The Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (Conaie), the main promoter of the protests against the Government due to the cost of living, convened this Friday a “popular assembly” to listen to the positions, requests and proposals from different sectors about the country’s situation.
(Also read: Protests in Ecuador: Lasso partially gives in to dialogue with indigenous people)
The meeting was installed on the twelfth day of protests with thousands of participants in the agora of the House of Ecuadorian Culture, where they entered on Thursday after the Government opened that possibility, precisely for the assembly to take place.
The entry of the demonstrators to this place to establish the “popular assembly” was one of the conditions set by the president of the Conaie, Leonidas Iza, to open the way to a dialogue with the Government, along with repealing the state of exception in force in six provinces and ensure that all their demands will be addressed.
Ecuador wants peace, Ecuador needs an immediate solution to this conflict
“Ecuador wants peace, Ecuador needs an immediate solution to this conflict. So that there is no violence, nor excuses, today we are going to allow social organizations, led by Conaie, to convene and meet in the agora of the House of Culture,” said the Minister of Government, Francisco Jiménez, in a video recorded message.
In this way -he added- they will be able to carry out “their assembly with order and under their responsibility” in the agora of the House of Culture, which since last Sunday had been taken over by the security forces, which on Monday caused several riots and clashes when the demonstrators wanted to approach her.
(You may be interested in: Can the Lasso Government fall due to indigenous protests in Ecuador?)
The demonstrators immediately occupied the agora on Thursday, but shortly after intense clashes with the police occurred in the surroundings, on a day in which one person died and several were injured.
The disturbances focused on the El Arbolito park (next to the agora) which was already the epicenter of the wave of protests in October 2019, also led by the indigenous movement against the elimination of fuel subsidies and which ended at the level national with a dozen dead and about 1,500 injured.
What organizations ask for
In the first interventions of representatives of different social organizations in the “popular assembly” the claim for the high cost of living was heard and on more than one occasion they chanted “Get out, Lasso out”.
President Guillermo Lasso, who dispatches from the Executive headquarters, located in the historic center of Quito, about a ten minute walk from the agora, has partially agreed to some requests from the indigenous people, for which he has indicated that he will not raise the cost of the most consumed fuels, and has offered to forgive peasant families overdue debts of up to 3,000 dollars, among others.
(Also: Ecuador: Lasso decrees a state of exception for indigenous demonstrations)
“We do not want more confrontation, we have given in because our intention is dialogue for peace,” said an image that Lasso posted this Friday on his Twitter account and in which people who participated in a march for peace with flags can be seen. white and from Ecuador.
The president has agreed to participate in a dialogue proposed by more than 300 social organizations, which are awaiting Iza’s response.
We Ecuadorians are noble people, willing to get ahead. We work for the common good. Only united, through dialogue, we are going to lift Ecuador, this country deserves better days and together we are going to achieve it. #EcuadorWantsPeace pic.twitter.com/aiLs5zBjHu
— Guillermo Lasso (@LassoGuillermo) June 24, 2022
On the contrary, the government of Ecuador said this Friday that the indigenous “do not want to dialogue”, they only “want violence”. Words that come after a failed raid on Congress that ended in clashes with the police and left three dead the day before.
“They have unmasked themselves. They do not want to dialogue. They do not want to agree. They do not want the country to reactivate. They do not want peace. Until now, the only thing they have shown is that they want violence,” said the Minister of the Interior (Interior) Francisco Jiménez , in an interview with the FM Mundo radio station.
(Keep reading: Protests in Ecuador: UN asks to respect the right to demonstrate)
A faction of the 10,000 demonstrators protesting in Quito advanced this Thursday towards Congress, tried to break the military picket that surrounded it and unleashed a violent wave.
On one side, Molotov cocktails, pyrotechnic rockets, stones. From the other, tear gas and stun grenades. The confrontations extended until the night and increased the balance of victims to six dead in twelve days of intense mobilizations, according to the Alliance of Organizations for Human Rights.
Lasso’s dismissal
In parallel, the 47 legislators related to former President Rafael Correa have spoken out for the need to advance the elections, in accordance with the provisions of number 2 of article 130 of the Constitution, which allows Parliament to remove the ruler “due to a serious political crisis and internal commotion.
If the request of the correistas prospers, within a period of 72 hours, after the procedure established by the Law has concluded, the National Assembly will resolve “with reasons based on the evidence presented” by the ruler.
To proceed with the dismissal, the favorable vote of two thirds of the members of the Assembly will be required. If the dismissal succeeds, the Vice President will assume the Presidency.
Within a maximum period of seven days after the publication of the dismissal resolution, the National Electoral Council (CNE) would call early legislative and presidential elections for the same date.
*With information from EFE and AFP
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