Published on : 18/06/2022 – 08:27Modified : 18/06/2022 – 09:56
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Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso announced on Friday a state of emergency in three provinces of the country, including that comprising the capital Quito. A decision that comes after violence that occurred during protests by indigenous people against fuel prices. The latter promised on Saturday to continue the protest movement.
Faced with violence for several days during demonstrations by indigenous people against fuel prices, the President of Ecuador Guillermo Lasso announced, on Friday June 17, a state of emergency in three provinces of the country.
“I am committed to defending our capital and defending the country. This obliges me to declare a state of emergency in Pichincha (where Quito is located, editor’s note), Imbabura and Cotopaxi from midnight tonight (5 a.m. GMT Saturday),” he said in a televised address. “I called for dialogue and the response was more violence. There is no intention to seek solutions,” he lamented.
The state of emergency allows the president to mobilize the armed forces to maintain order, to suspend the rights of citizens or to institute curfews.
The protest movement was launched on Monday by the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (Conaie), the largest organization of indigenous peoples, which is calling in particular for a drop in fuel prices. In response to the announcement of the state of emergency, Conaie said on Saturday that the movement would continue until its demands were heard.
“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.
Several demands and aid for the poorest
Ecuador, an oil-producing country, is plagued by inflation, unemployment and poverty, elements exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. 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.
La Conaie demands that the government respond to a list of ten requests. She is demanding that prices be reduced 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.
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 talks 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.
With AFP
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