QUITO —
Ecuadoran police Tuesday announced the arrest of a top Indigenous leader,
Leonidas Iza, who has spearheaded a nationwide protest movement against high
fuel prices.
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The police force
tweeted that Iza had been arrested in Pastocalle, about 20km (12miles) south of
Quito, on suspicion of unspecified “offenses.”
Pastocalle has been
a flash point of protests called by the powerful Confederation of Indigenous
Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) against rising fuel prices and living costs,
which saw protesters block roads across the country on Monday.
Iza, who heads
CONAIE, is in custody awaiting a hearing, the police added.
CONAIE confirmed
Iza’s arrest, condemning it as “arbitrary and illegal” and calling for a
“radicalization” of the demonstrations in response.
In 2019, CONAIE-led
protests resulted in 11 deaths and forced then-president Lenin Moreno to
abandon plans to eliminate fuel subsidies. The group is also credited with
helping topple three presidents between 1997 and 2005.
Oil-producer
Ecuador has been hit by rising inflation, unemployment and poverty, strains
exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic.
President Guillermo Lasso warned late Sunday that the government would not allow roads or Ecuador’s
oil installations to be taken over by protesters. But Iza insisted the
demonstrations would continue for as long as was necessary.
On Monday, a
nationwide demonstration saw roads blocked with burning tires and barricades of
sand, rocks and tree branches in at least 10 of Ecuador’s 24 provinces,
authorities said, with access to the capital Quito partly cut off.
Fuel prices have
risen sharply since 2020, almost doubling for diesel from $1 to $1.90 per
gallon (about 3.78 liters) and rising from $1.75 to $2.55 for gasoline.
Lasso froze prices
at this level last October after a round of protests led by CONAIE that saw
dozens arrested and several people, including police, injured in clashes. But
the freeze failed to assuage simmering anger in a country that exports crude
oil but imports much of the fuel it consumes.
CONAIE wants the
fuel price lowered to $1.50 per gallon for diesel and $2.10 for gasoline.
The protesters are also demanding the government address
price controls on agricultural products that hurt farmers and mining
concessions granted in Indigenous territories. Indigenous peoples make up over
a million of Ecuador’s 17.7 million inhabitants.
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