The demonstrations began around 00:00 local time (02:00 Argentine time) on Monday, Defense Minister Luis Lara told the press, adding that “roads are being closed in some parts of the country.”
The official, who along with other ministers evaluated the situation from the headquarters of the Integrated Security Service ECU911 in Quito, indicated that military keep strategic areas “under control” such as oil installations. Crude oil is Ecuador’s main export product.
summoned by the majority Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities (Conaie)the Aborigines kept roads blocked with burning tires and barricades erected with earth, stones and trees in at least ten of the 24 provinces Ecuadorian, including the Andean Pichincha -whose capital is Quito-, according to the state service ECU911.
“It’s our forceful demonstration until the government listensManuel Cocha, from the organization of indigenous and peasant farmers from the Andean population of Poaló, south of Quito, told AFP.
Cocha (42 years old), who was protesting along with dozens of people on the South Pan-American Highway, added that “we have seen that the policies of the government of Guillermo Lasso have once again affected us” when a rising food prices in recent months.
Access to the Ecuadorian capital was blocked by protesters, according to Police Commander General Fausto Salinas, who called for peace. “We cannot stop the country,” he told the press.
According to Leonidas Iza, president of Conaie, the protests will be “indefinite” in duration.
Lasso, who took office a year ago, warned on Sunday night that he will not allow the blocking of routes or the seizure of oil wells, located in the Amazon jungle and where demonstrations are also taking place.
The opposition Conaie protests against what it considers to be high fuel prices, the lack of employment and price controls on agricultural products, and the granting of mining concessions in native territories.
Since 2020, fuel prices were reviewed monthly in Ecuador, so the 3.78-liter gallon of diesel almost doubled from 1 dollar to 1.90 and the value of common gasoline rose 46%, from 1.75 to 2.55 dollars.
Lasso froze prices to deactivate the claims of the indigenous people, who exceed one million people in Ecuador, a country of 17.7 million inhabitants.
Conaie demands that prices be reduced to 1.50 dollars for diesel and 2.10 for 85-octane gasoline.
Interior Minister Patricio Carrillo said that police and military personnel were mobilized to “guarantee public order” in the midst of the protests.
He pointed out that “there have been no clashes” between demonstrators and soldiers during the first hours of the protests.
Conaie led violent demonstrations in 2019 that left eleven dead. So, the group forced the then president Lenin Moreno to back down on a plan to eliminate million-dollar fuel subsidies.
Source: Ambito
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