Fueled by the rise of up to 12% in fuel, the protests, in which students and workers also participated, are the largest in the five months of Lasso’s administration.
The Government reported 37 detainees, five police officers injured and two soldiers detained by protesters, who were in good condition.
In the capital, a protester suffered an injury when he was hit in the forehead by a tear gas canister, according to the AFP news agency, which cited his photographers.
In addition, a journalist was hit by a rubber bullet fired by a police officer, according to Fundamedios, which promotes freedom of expression.
“The demonstrations were controlled,” tweeted Lasso, a 65-year-old former banker.
“This government guarantees the right to protest, when it is peaceful and occurs within the framework of the law,” he added.
Conaie blocked some roads in several Ecuadorian provinces, while in Quito, unions and students joined a march, all despite the state of emergency that has been in force since last week to combat drug trafficking, although rights such as assembly rights have not been restricted. and protest.
Some 1,500 protesters, according to police colonel César Zapata – in charge of the security operation – participated in the march in the capital.
The police used tear gas to disperse the protests near the Government Palace, which was attacked with stones.
“This is the beginning of a progressive unemploymentIt all depends on the government, it must freeze fuel prices, reduce the cost of living, “William Bastantes, a 48-year-old professor at the Central University, told AFP.
Lasso decreed new fuel prices, with which on Saturday a gallon (3.8 liters) of diesel climbed to $ 1.90, compared to a dollar that cost more than a year ago, and that of ordinary gasoline to 2.55 Dollars.
Although at the same time it announced an indefinite freeze on rates, which were readjusted monthly from 2020, it did not manage to appease popular discontent.
Social unrest returned to an Ecuador shaken by the rebound in homicides and prison massacres, which this year already accumulate more than 2,000 deaths in this country of 17.7 million inhabitants, also weighed down by the economic depression that the pandemic brought.
Conaie, which in 2019 also led violent demonstrations against the elimination of fuel subsidies that left 11 dead, rejects the monthly increases applied since 2020.
The indigenous people, who participated in the overthrow of three presidents between 1997 and 2005, and who represent 7.4% of the population, They demand that the government freeze prices at $ 1.50 for diesel and two dollars for regular gasoline.
Ecuador, which exports oil but imports fuel, faces a crisis reflected in an external debt of almost 46,000 million dollars (45% of GDP) and a fiscal deficit of 5% of GDP, in addition to 47% of poverty and misery, and 28 % underemployment and unemployment.
The president faces investigations in the Prosecutor’s Office and Congress for his relationship with the scandal of the Pandora Papers, which revealed the tax havens of the powerful.
Amid the turmoil, the government will present to the opposition-controlled Congress tax and labor reforms with a view to reviving the economy, but which unions fear will make the labor market precarious.
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