QUITO (Reuters) – Ecuador’s largest indigenous organization decided on Thursday to temporarily suspend protests against rising fuel prices after conservative President Guillermo Lasso invited its leaders to a meeting in two weeks’ time.
The indigenous people have been protesting since Tuesday, with the blockade of some roads in the Andean and Amazon regions of the country, against Lasso’s decision to increase the price of gasoline.
Protesters say the fuel price rise unfairly affects the majority of the population, who are struggling because of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the household economy.
“From here we are going to return to the community, but we maintain and declare permanent mobilization,” said Leonidas Iza, president of the Organization of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), in a statement in the province of Chimborazo, in the central region of the country.
The indigenous leaders said that they evaluated Lasso’s invitation to resume a dialogue and will decide in an assembly with the communities whether or not to attend the meeting.
“This acceptance will not come from the leaders, but from the people,” added Iza.
Lasso, a former banker who took office in May, has been pressured by indigenous peoples, unions and others to freeze the monthly rise in fuel prices started by his predecessor, LenĂn Moreno, last year.
(Reporting by Alexandra Valencia)
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