NEWS WIRES
Thu, 23 June 2022,
© Santiago Arcos, Reuters
Police in Ecuador’s capital fired tear gas Thursday to disperse Indigenous protesters who tried to storm congress on the 11th day of crippling demonstrations over fuel prices and living costs.
Protesters had earlier won a concession from the Ecuadoran government when President Guillermo Lasso, isolating because of a Covid-19 infection, granted them access to a cultural center emblematic of the Indigenous struggle but commandeered by police over the weekend.
However, later in the day, a group of Indigenous protesters, led by women, headed towards congress only to be pushed back by police as violent clashes broke out.
Police fired tear gas while protesters threw rocks and fireworks.
“This is a very bad sign, given we asked our base to march peacefully,” said protest leader Leonidas Iza.
The protests, which started on June 13, have claimed the lives of three people and have seen the government impose a state of emergency on six of the country’s 24 provinces.
An estimated 14,000 protesters are taking part in the mass show of discontent, and some 10,000 of them are in Quito, which is under a night-time curfew.
The protesters’ demands include a cut in already subsidized fuel prices which have risen sharply in recent months, as well as jobs, food price controls, and more public spending on healthcare and education.
‘For the sake of dialogue’
Francisco Jimenez, Ecuador’s minister of government, announced the concession earlier Thursday, saying it was made “for the sake of dialogue and peace.”
The aim, he said, was to “to stop roadblocks, violent demonstrations, and attacks.”
The protesters hailed the move.
“It is a triumph of the struggle,” Iza proclaimed over a megaphone, advancing on the center with hundreds of others in jubilatory mood.
The Alliance of Human Rights Organizations said a 38-year-old man died on Wednesday in the southern town of Tarqui in clashes between protesters and police, which it accused of violent tactics.
Dozens of people have also been injured in the countrywide demonstrations that Indigenous groups have vowed to continue until their demands are met.
The police, for its part, said the man had died of a medical condition that occurred “in the context of the demonstrations.”
Two other people died on Monday and Tuesday, according to the Alliance, which also reported 92 wounded and 94 civilians arrested in 11 days of protests.
Officials say 117 in the ranks of police and soldiers have been injured.
On Wednesday night, some 300 protesters occupied a power plant in southern Ecuador and briefly took its operators hostage, authorities said.
Ecuador, a small South American country riddled with drug trafficking and related violence, has been hard hit by rising inflation, unemployment and poverty—all exacerbated by the pandemic.
$50 million per day
The protests, which have involved the burning of tires and tree branches by vocal marchers brandishing sticks, spears and makeshift shields, have paralyzed the capital and severely harmed the economy with barricades of key roads.
The government has rejected demands to lift the state of emergency imposed in response to the sometimes violent demonstrations called by the powerful Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (Conaie).
“I cry to see so many people mistreated by this... government,” protester Cecilia, an 80-year-old who did not give her full name, told AFP as she marched with an Ecuadoran flag and a banner reading: “Lasso, liar.”
Conaie led two weeks of protests in 2019 in which 11 people died and more than 1,000 were injured, causing economic losses of some $800 million before the then-president abandoned plans to reduce fuel price subsidies.
Lasso’s government has ruled out cutting fuel prices this time, as it would cost the State an unaffordable $1 billion per year.
Conaie – credited with ending three presidencies between 1997 and 2005 – insists the state of emergency be lifted before it will negotiate, but the government has said this “would leave the capital defenseless.”
It was unclear whether the group was ready to negotiate after Thursday’s concession.
Official data showed the economy was losing about $50 million per day due to the protests, not counting oil production – the country’s main export product – which has also been affected.
Producers of flowers, another of Ecuador’s main exports, have complained their wares are rotting as trucks cannot reach their destinations.
(AFP)
Life on Pause in Ecuadoran Capital Gripped by Protests
June 23, 2022
Agence France-Presse
Indigenous women protest against the government in Quito, Ecuador, on June 23, 2022.
QUITO, ECUADOR —
Quito is a city beleaguered — its shops shuttered and streets empty of all but thousands of Indigenous protesters clamoring for a better life, and the police and soldiers keeping them in check.
Some 10,000 demonstrators have gathered in the Ecuadoran capital from all over the country to protest high fuel prices and rising living costs.
And they have vowed to stay until the government meets their demands, or falls.
"It could be a month, it could be two. ... The war will come but here we will fight," said Maria Vega, 47, who ekes out a living doing odd jobs — one of about a third of Ecuadorans living in poverty.
Nearly a third do not have full-time work.
Demanding jobs, fuel price cuts, better health care and education, they arrived in Quito on foot or on the backs of trucks, many from hundreds of kilometers away.
At night, after long hours on the streets, they recharge, housed austerely at two university campuses and relying in large part on food handouts from church and other groups.
Shields, sticks and flags
In the mornings, they set out in groups bearing sticks, makeshift shields fashioned from traffic signs or rubbish bins and the wiphala — the multicolored flag of the native peoples of the Andes.
QUITO, ECUADOR —
Quito is a city beleaguered — its shops shuttered and streets empty of all but thousands of Indigenous protesters clamoring for a better life, and the police and soldiers keeping them in check.
Some 10,000 demonstrators have gathered in the Ecuadoran capital from all over the country to protest high fuel prices and rising living costs.
And they have vowed to stay until the government meets their demands, or falls.
"It could be a month, it could be two. ... The war will come but here we will fight," said Maria Vega, 47, who ekes out a living doing odd jobs — one of about a third of Ecuadorans living in poverty.
Nearly a third do not have full-time work.
Demanding jobs, fuel price cuts, better health care and education, they arrived in Quito on foot or on the backs of trucks, many from hundreds of kilometers away.
At night, after long hours on the streets, they recharge, housed austerely at two university campuses and relying in large part on food handouts from church and other groups.
Shields, sticks and flags
In the mornings, they set out in groups bearing sticks, makeshift shields fashioned from traffic signs or rubbish bins and the wiphala — the multicolored flag of the native peoples of the Andes.
Indigenous Ecuadorans have poured into the capital Quito from across the country in recent days to join protests against high fuel prices and the cost of living. June 23, 2022.
Traditional red ponchos stand out among the aggrieved crowds, who set up road barricades with burning tires and tree branches, building bonfires in broad daylight.
Access to the presidency is blocked by metal fences, razor wire and lines of stern security personnel.
"They have weapons. How can one compare a weapon to a stick or a stone? We are not on an equal footing," protester Luzmila Zamora, 51, complained of the show of force.
Traditional red ponchos stand out among the aggrieved crowds, who set up road barricades with burning tires and tree branches, building bonfires in broad daylight.
Access to the presidency is blocked by metal fences, razor wire and lines of stern security personnel.
"They have weapons. How can one compare a weapon to a stick or a stone? We are not on an equal footing," protester Luzmila Zamora, 51, complained of the show of force.
Ecuadorean police shoot tear gas during clashes with demonstrators in the surroundings of the Comptroller General's Office headquarters in Quito, Ecuador, on June 23, 2022.
President Guillermo Lasso, a former banker who took office a year ago, sees in the revolt an attempt to overthrow him.
Ecuador has a reputation for ungovernability following the departure of three presidents between 1997 and 2005 under pressure from Indigenous people — who make up more than a million of Ecuador's 17.7 million people.
In 2019, protests led by the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (Conaie) — which also called the latest demonstrations — forced the government to abandon plans to eliminate fuel subsidies.
They seem as determined this time around: standing firm in spite of a state of emergency in six of Ecuador's 24 states, a night-time curfew in Quito, a massive military deployment and insults hurled at them from residents whose lives and livelihoods have been thrown into turmoil.
"We want a government that works for the people, for all of Ecuador, not only for the upper class," insisted protester Zamora.
Another, 40-year-old pastor Marco Vinicio Morales, said he could not understand how in a country with vast oil, gold and silver resources, people were falling ever further behind.
"If there is no answer [to the protesters' demands], Lasso will have dug his own grave," he said.
Diners flee teargas
Business owners, shopkeepers and workers in the capital, just starting to recover from closures due to the coronavirus pandemic, are not pleased.
President Guillermo Lasso, a former banker who took office a year ago, sees in the revolt an attempt to overthrow him.
Ecuador has a reputation for ungovernability following the departure of three presidents between 1997 and 2005 under pressure from Indigenous people — who make up more than a million of Ecuador's 17.7 million people.
In 2019, protests led by the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (Conaie) — which also called the latest demonstrations — forced the government to abandon plans to eliminate fuel subsidies.
They seem as determined this time around: standing firm in spite of a state of emergency in six of Ecuador's 24 states, a night-time curfew in Quito, a massive military deployment and insults hurled at them from residents whose lives and livelihoods have been thrown into turmoil.
"We want a government that works for the people, for all of Ecuador, not only for the upper class," insisted protester Zamora.
Another, 40-year-old pastor Marco Vinicio Morales, said he could not understand how in a country with vast oil, gold and silver resources, people were falling ever further behind.
"If there is no answer [to the protesters' demands], Lasso will have dug his own grave," he said.
Diners flee teargas
Business owners, shopkeepers and workers in the capital, just starting to recover from closures due to the coronavirus pandemic, are not pleased.
Bonfires block roads in Quito, Ecuador, on June 23, 2022, during Indigenous-led protests against the government.
Efren Carrion, a 42-year-old chef, said his restaurant normally sells about 120 meals on a weekday. "These days, it has been 10 or 25 maximum," he said.
And due to the ubiquitous teargas in the air, "clients often leave running, without paying."
For Carrion, workers like him should not have to pay the price for the protest.
"The best revolution is to work and reach an agreement, to negotiate," he said.
So far, no talks have been scheduled as both sides dig in their heels.
Efren Carrion, a 42-year-old chef, said his restaurant normally sells about 120 meals on a weekday. "These days, it has been 10 or 25 maximum," he said.
And due to the ubiquitous teargas in the air, "clients often leave running, without paying."
For Carrion, workers like him should not have to pay the price for the protest.
"The best revolution is to work and reach an agreement, to negotiate," he said.
So far, no talks have been scheduled as both sides dig in their heels.
'We are suffering': Indigenous Ecuadorans explain protest
Wed, June 22, 2022
Indigenous Ecuadorans have poured into the capital Quito from across the country in recent days to join protests against high fuel prices and the cost of living.
Four out of the thousands of demonstrators told AFP why they answered the call for countrywide anti-government demonstrations by the Conaie Indigenous peoples' association.
- At 'war' -
Margarita Malaver, 35, travelled some 270 kilometers (167 miles) on the back of a truck from Puyo, the capital of southeastern Pastaza province, to Quito to declare herself at "war" with the state.
In Puyo -- where she moved 15 years ago from her childhood home in the Amazon jungle region of Sarayaku in search of a decent living -- she works as a laundrywoman to feed herself and her three children.
Malaver, her face painted in black motifs that she explained represent "war," said she relies heavily on a monthly $50 poverty grant from the state.
She pays $80 to rent two rooms and a small kitchen for her family, and has little left for school supplies for her children, or anything else.
She desperately wants for "prices to come down."
Life is "hard," she told AFP. "There is no work."
The cost of a basic basket of consumer goods in Ecuador, for a family of four, is $735 today -- up from $710 a year ago.
Many like Malaver are protesting for more government spending on job creation, education and healthcare.
- Just two notebooks -
Carlos Nazareno, 31, makes bamboo furniture in Pastaza, the same province Malaver is from.
This work earns him about $300 in a good month, less than the minimum salary of $425, he told AFP, spear in hand among hundreds of other protesters.
The money, he said, is "hardly enough to eat, and not enough for the school needs" of his four children, who go to class "with just two notebooks" between them.
Nazareno said there are periods that he sells "nothing for a week" on end.
"My children ask me for things and I have no way of giving it... my motorbike is parked because I have no money for fuel nor to go look for food," he said.
In just over a year, fuel prices have risen sharply -- almost doubling for diesel from $1 to $1.90 per gallon and rising from $1.75 to $2.55 for gasoline.
- Wasted vote -
Nele Cuchipe, 52, took over the care of her two grandchildren when her son, their father, died.
Her goal she says, is to give the young ones a proper education and a better future than their current impoverished life in the southern Cotopaxi province.
None of her surviving children have work.
Cuchipe makes a subsistence living from growing potatoes, barley and a grain called chocho, but suffers under recent price increases for products such as oil, butter and fertilizer for her crops.
She said she wished she could undo the vote she cast for President Guillermo Lasso just over a year ago in the mistaken belief that as "a banker, a businessman" he would rescue the economy.
"Instead, hunger will kill us," said Cuchipe.
"We are suffering because of this government that does not want to understand, that does not react to anything," she said.
- No savings -
Ruben Chaluisa, 30, said he makes $10 a day working as a mason in the town of Zumbahua, elsewhere in Cotopaxi province.
He also grows potatoes and a root vegetable known as melloco to feed his wife and two children.
"We do not manage to have savings like other people," said Chaluisa, huddling against the cold in a red poncho.
Chaluisa said he had to start working at the age of 12, and fears the cycle of poverty will be repeated with his own offspring.
I want them "not to suffer like we do, to be a little more advanced than we are."
pld/lv/mlr/bfm
Wed, June 22, 2022
Indigenous Ecuadorans have poured into the capital Quito from across the country in recent days to join protests against high fuel prices and the cost of living.
Four out of the thousands of demonstrators told AFP why they answered the call for countrywide anti-government demonstrations by the Conaie Indigenous peoples' association.
- At 'war' -
Margarita Malaver, 35, travelled some 270 kilometers (167 miles) on the back of a truck from Puyo, the capital of southeastern Pastaza province, to Quito to declare herself at "war" with the state.
In Puyo -- where she moved 15 years ago from her childhood home in the Amazon jungle region of Sarayaku in search of a decent living -- she works as a laundrywoman to feed herself and her three children.
Malaver, her face painted in black motifs that she explained represent "war," said she relies heavily on a monthly $50 poverty grant from the state.
She pays $80 to rent two rooms and a small kitchen for her family, and has little left for school supplies for her children, or anything else.
She desperately wants for "prices to come down."
Life is "hard," she told AFP. "There is no work."
The cost of a basic basket of consumer goods in Ecuador, for a family of four, is $735 today -- up from $710 a year ago.
Many like Malaver are protesting for more government spending on job creation, education and healthcare.
- Just two notebooks -
Carlos Nazareno, 31, makes bamboo furniture in Pastaza, the same province Malaver is from.
This work earns him about $300 in a good month, less than the minimum salary of $425, he told AFP, spear in hand among hundreds of other protesters.
The money, he said, is "hardly enough to eat, and not enough for the school needs" of his four children, who go to class "with just two notebooks" between them.
Nazareno said there are periods that he sells "nothing for a week" on end.
"My children ask me for things and I have no way of giving it... my motorbike is parked because I have no money for fuel nor to go look for food," he said.
In just over a year, fuel prices have risen sharply -- almost doubling for diesel from $1 to $1.90 per gallon and rising from $1.75 to $2.55 for gasoline.
- Wasted vote -
Nele Cuchipe, 52, took over the care of her two grandchildren when her son, their father, died.
Her goal she says, is to give the young ones a proper education and a better future than their current impoverished life in the southern Cotopaxi province.
None of her surviving children have work.
Cuchipe makes a subsistence living from growing potatoes, barley and a grain called chocho, but suffers under recent price increases for products such as oil, butter and fertilizer for her crops.
She said she wished she could undo the vote she cast for President Guillermo Lasso just over a year ago in the mistaken belief that as "a banker, a businessman" he would rescue the economy.
"Instead, hunger will kill us," said Cuchipe.
"We are suffering because of this government that does not want to understand, that does not react to anything," she said.
- No savings -
Ruben Chaluisa, 30, said he makes $10 a day working as a mason in the town of Zumbahua, elsewhere in Cotopaxi province.
He also grows potatoes and a root vegetable known as melloco to feed his wife and two children.
"We do not manage to have savings like other people," said Chaluisa, huddling against the cold in a red poncho.
Chaluisa said he had to start working at the age of 12, and fears the cycle of poverty will be repeated with his own offspring.
I want them "not to suffer like we do, to be a little more advanced than we are."
pld/lv/mlr/bfm
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