On the tenth day of the national strike of indigenous people and peasants in Ecuador, hope is opened for a possible dialogue between the Government and the confederation that unionizes the indigenous people and thus put an end to the protests. The Conaie, the main indigenous organization in the country, conditions the dialogue to the lifting of the state of emergency. So far, the clashes have left two dead, 74 injured and 87 detained.
Ecuador is waiting for a possible dialogue table this Wednesday, June 22, between the Government and the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (Conaie), the main convener of social mobilization, to try to put an end to the national strike and overcome the crisis that it has become increasingly violent in Quito and other cities like Puyo and that it is already ten days old.
Ecuador’s capital has come to a virtual standstill amid growing signs of food and fuel shortages and reports of clashes between protesters and police. The Government has assured that the protests are a “serious risk” for the country’s democracy.
In a video uploaded on Twitter this Wednesday, the Minister of Government of Ecuador, Francisco Jiménez, recalled that they have transmitted to Leonidas Iza, leader of Conaie, that they have “a reliable, impartial negotiation mechanism that allows them to bring” the positions and added that the Government has accepted “the call of the UN, the European Union and more than 300 civil society organizations so that, through dialogue” the positions are openly discussed and an agreement is reached.
Minister Jiménez has told the local media that “this is not the time for conditions -referring to Iza-, it is the time to genuinely dialogue for the well-being of the country and (for) peace” and added that they cannot follow the acts violent in the country.
“The violence got out of hand. They themselves have said that they have infiltrators, that there are people who are causing chaos and destruction,” Jiménez said.
In statements to the ‘Teleamazonas’ media outlet, this Wednesday the Government Minister explained that “a strategy of containment, not repression, has been implemented. They must understand that we cannot leave citizens defenseless, this is about sitting down to dialogue”, assured the minister.
For its part, the Conaie says, from its social networks, that President Guillermo Lasso has not listened to the popular outcry, he only responds with “repression and violence”, and has denounced the abuse against the demonstrations by the Police and the military. .
In addition, they demand that the state of emergency decreed by the Government be ended and that the repression cease as a condition to generate a dialogue on the ten points that make up the list of demands that Conaie has presented.
Since last Friday, the government declared a state of emergency in the Andean provinces of Imbabura, Pichincha, Cotopaxi, Tungurahua and Chimborazo, as well as in the Amazon province of Pastaza, trying to contain the indigenous mobilization that has been installed with force in Quito.
Critical situation reported in Puyo
Community member Byron Guatatuca, from the Amazonian city of Puyo, is the second fatality left by these ten days of strike. According to local media, Guatatoca died from a tear gas bomb that hit his face and the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of the Ecuadorian Amazon (Confeniae), a subsidiary of Conaie, assures that the victim was shot at point-blank range and blamed the Government for the act.
🚨PUBLIC COMPLAINT| Under the State of Exception declared at the request of the Governor of Pastaza: Indigenous leader, Byron Guatatoca is killed by a tear gas canister to the head. #ParoNacionalEc2022 https://t.co/isf74V01AF
— CONAIE (@CONAIE_Ecuador) June 22, 2022
The Interior Ministry responded by saying the man was handling explosives. Patricio Carrillo, head of the portfolio, added that three police officers were held by protesters in Puyo, while the whereabouts of another 18 uniformed officers are unknown.
The official from the Ministry of the Interior reported that on Tuesday two groups were formed, one that asked for dialogue and the other “radical, from different Quichua and Shuara communities of the place that, in absolutely irrational acts, with explosives, with ancestral weapons and with firearms carbine-type, they began to attack civilian and police personnel.”
Another event in Puyo was the burning of a police unit in the center of the city, according to Castillo it was a mob that caused the flames.
In a national statement, Defense Minister Luis Lara said on June 21 that the military was viewing developments with concern amid the “manipulation of social protests and the growth of violence by those who have rejected the dialogue”.
Lara added that “these actions go beyond a citizen protest and that this amounts to a deliberate effort to use violence to threaten democracy and endanger institutions.”
According to hima Alliance of Organizations for Human Rights, There are so far “44 reports of events that involve human rights violations. They include 2 people who died in the context of repression, 74 people injured, three of them in critical condition, five with eye injuries, one with partial upper limb amputation and 87 detainees. The last fatal victim of police violence is the protester Byron Holger Guatatoca Vargas, an indigenous Kichwa; event that occurred in the city of Puyo.
Why did the Conaie disagreements begin?
The violence in the escalation of the protests in Ecuador began when the powerful Conaie called for an indefinite strike to press its demands before President Guillermo Lasso to reduce fuel prices, establish price controls on agricultural products and basic necessities, increase the education budget and Lasso’s departure from power, among other points.
The strike has largely affected six provinces in northern Ecuador, but protesters have also intermittently blocked roads, causing fuel and food shortages in many parts of the country, including the capital.
The energy ministry has invoked contract clauses that prevent hydrocarbon operators from filing lawsuits over broken contracts as the protests affect production. Protesters have entered oil fields, forcing companies to shut down almost 609 wells in the Amazon, leading to a loss of around 30,000 barrels a day.
For its part, the Prosecutor’s Office said it had launched an investigation into the “alleged contamination of the water sources that enter the treatment plants” in the city of Ambato, which has a population of around 170,000 people.
Reports from the Andean city say that the water, in at least seven sectors, was coming out with a dark color and a smell of burnt motor oil. Three years ago, sabotage during demonstrations cut off the water supply in Ambato, 131 kilometers south of the capital.
With EFE, AP and local media
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