Protesters in Quito, June 17, 2022 (AFP / Cristina Vega RHOR)
Despite the state of emergency declared by the President of Ecuador in three provinces after demonstrations punctuated by violence, the indigenous community promised to continue the protest movement on Saturday against rising prices, especially of fuel.
Since the start on Monday of the movement, which has blocked roads in more than half of the country, clashes with security forces have left at least 43 injured, while 37 people have been arrested.
“I pledge to defend our capital and to defend the country. This obliges me to declare a state of emergency in Pichincha (where the capital Quito is located, editor’s note), Imbabura and Cotopaxi from midnight tonight” (0500 GMT Saturday), Conservative President Guillermo Lasso said in a televised address Friday evening.
“I called for dialogue and the response was more violence. There is no intention to seek solutions,” he lamented.
The state of emergency makes it possible to mobilize the armed forces to maintain order, suspend the rights of citizens and establish curfews.
In response, the powerful Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (Conaie), the largest organization of indigenous peoples in the country, said the movement would continue until its demands were heard.
The leader of the powerful Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (Conaie), Leonidas Iza, on June 15, 2022 in Latacunga, Ecuador (CONAIE/AFP/Archives/-)
“We ratify the struggle at the national level, indefinitely”, launched Leonidas Iza, the head of this organization which contributed to the overthrow of three Ecuadorian presidents between 1997 and 2005 and had already led the violent demonstrations of 2019 (11 dead).
“From now on, we are preparing the mobilization” of the indigenous people in Quito to maintain the protests, he added while calling for an end to violence and vandalism.
The country’s indigenous community represents more than one million of Ecuador’s 17.7 million people.
The oil-producing country is plagued by inflation, unemployment and poverty, elements exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic.
– Aid for the poorest –
Fuel prices there have risen sharply since 2020, rising from $1 to $1.90 per gallon (3.8 liters) for diesel and from $1.75 to $2.55 for gasoline.
Protesters during clashes with the police, in Quito, on June 17, 2022 (AFP / Cristina Vega RHOR)
La Conaie demands that the government respond to a list of 10 requests. She is calling for prices to be lowered to $1.50 for diesel and $2.10 for gasoline, a request rejected by Quito.
Other demands include control of food prices and the renegotiation of personal bank loans for some four million families.
Initiated Monday, the protest movement, which has since joined students and workers, has resulted in the blocking of access to two main supply markets in Quito, and that of many roads in 15 of the 24 provinces of the country.
With spears in hand, indigenous Amazonians have also temporarily occupied the seats of local governments in the provinces of Pastaza and Morona Santiago (southeast), close to Peru.
In Quito, nearly 1,000 demonstrators tried to tear down the metal fences surrounding the presidential headquarters.
Riot police clear a partially blocked road in Quito on June 17, 2022 (AFP/Cristina Vega RHOR)
In an attempt to defuse the crisis, the conservative president, in power for a year, received a small delegation of indigenous representatives on Friday, but the discussions apparently yielded little result.
In the evening, in addition to the state of emergency, he announced the increase in monthly aid from 50 to 55 dollars to “improve the difficult situation” of the poorest families, as well as aid for farmers.
Growers of flowers, one of Ecuador’s main export products, complained on Friday that due to roadblocks their produce was rotting.
The protests have so far caused some $50 million in damage to the economy, according to the Production Ministry.
© 2022 AFP
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