QUITO —
Ecuador’s President Guillermo Lasso declared a
state of emergency in three provinces late Friday in response to sometimes
violent protests by Indigenous groups demanding cuts in fuel prices.
اضافة اعلان
Oil producer
Ecuador has been hit by rising inflation, unemployment, and poverty exacerbated
by the coronavirus pandemic.
Fuel prices have
risen sharply since 2020, almost doubling for diesel from $1 to $1.90 per
gallon (3.8 liters) and rising from $1.75 to $2.55 for petrol.
Demonstrators
from the country’s Indigenous community — which makes up over a million of
Ecuador’s 17.7 million inhabitants — launched an open-ended anti-government
protest this week that has since been joined by students, workers and others.
The
demonstrations have blocked roads across the country, including highways
leading into the capital Quito.
Clashes with
security forces during the protests have left at least 43 people injured, and
37 have been arrested.
In response,
Lasso’s decree Friday — which covers Quito — enables the president to mobilize
the armed forces to maintain order, suspend civil rights and declare curfews.
“I am committed
to defending our capital and our country,” Lasso said on television.
“I called for
dialogue and the response was more violence. There is no intention to seek
solutions.”
The
demonstrations have largely been concentrated in the northern region of
Pichincha and neighboring Cotopaxi and Imbabura.
With spears in
hand, Indigenous Amazonians this week temporarily occupied local government
headquarters in the provinces of Pastaza and Morona Santiago.
The country’s
armed forces on Twitter condemned “the violent actions carried out by
protesters” in Pastaza, saying one person had been left with “fractures and
multiple injuries.”
In Quito, nearly
1,000 protesters tried to tear down metal fences that surround the presidential
headquarters.
No compromise
In a bid to ease grassroots anger, Lasso announced in his address late
Friday a small increase in a monthly subsidy paid to Ecuador’s poorest, as well
as a program to ease the debt of those who have loans from state-run banks.
Lasso, a
rightwing ex-banker who took office a year ago, met Thursday with Indigenous
leaders to assuage discontent but the discussions apparently yielded little
result.
Producers of
flowers, one of Ecuador’s main exports, complained Friday that due to the
roadblocks, their wares were rotting.
But the powerful
Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (Conaie), which called the
protests, has said it will maintain the road blockades until the government
meets 10 demands.
Conaie — which
has been credited with helping topple three Ecuadorian presidents between 1997
and 2005 — wants prices reduced to $1.50 for diesel and $2.10 for petrol, a
demand the government has so far rejected.
Its other
demands include food price controls and renegotiating the personal bank loans
of about four million families.
In response to
Lasso’s decree, the head of Conaie, Leonidas Iza, insisted the protests would
go on “indefinitely.”
“From this
moment we prepare the mobilization” of activists to Quito to maintain the
protests, he added, without specifying when the demonstrators would arrive.
The protests
have so far caused about $50 million in damage to the economy, according to the
Ministry of Production.
But Conaie has
called for an end to the violence.
“Vandalism,
confrontation, violence cannot be accepted,” said Iza.
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