Blockades in nine provinces and clashes on second day of protests in Ecuador

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Encouraged by the indigenous movement, Ecuadorian protesters blocked at least a dozen highways on Wednesday, including the northern access to Quito. At the same time, President Guillermo Lasso again urged “dialogue” to solve economic and social problems.

Slightly calmer than on Tuesday, when the capital was the epicenter of clashes with the police, the wave of protests of this second day of mobilization had resulted mainly in the blocking of main roads, with some outbreaks of violence when the forces of law and order came to unblock them.

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Although due to accidental causes, the protests caused today the death of a 67-year-old journalist who was covering a mobilization in the province of Cotopaxi and fell from a van, informed the NGO Fundamedios, which also denounced the shooting “at point-blank range” with a rubber bullet of another information professional by a policeman.

Pichincha, Chimborazo, Tungurahua, Imbabura, Bolivar, Cotopaxi, Morona Santiago, Pastaza, and Azuay saw some of their roads cut at different points by picketers from neighboring towns, in what was almost a ritual.

For Quito, the Panamericana Norte, through which the city is accessed from that direction, was cut off, which is why anti-riot forces insisted on breaking up the demonstrations.

After removing dirt and boulders placed on the asphalt, as well as burning tires, the anti-riot forces entered San Miguel del Común, which provoked confrontations with residents who chanted slogans such as “Correa is coming back!”, “Lasso is out!” or “Police out!”.

Rafael Correa is the president of the Bolivarian left that governed Ecuador between 2007 and 2017, convicted of bribery in a corruption case that he denies. He threatened to take the mobilizations to the Assembly if they did not listen to the demands that “fuel be lowered to the price it was”.

Called by unions and social movements, the protests began on Tuesday against a backdrop of almost generalized political and economic crisis, marked by the appearance of the president in the Pandora Papers, the fiscal and labor reforms he intends to push forward to reactivate the economy and, more in the short term, a severe increase in fuel prices.

After months of increases due to the rise of crude oil in international markets, Lasso froze prices on Friday, trying to soothe popular indignation, but at the September price and not the June price as demanded.

Faced with the advance of the population in San Miguel and attacks with firecrackers, sticks, and stones, the police resorted to tear gas.

“What we seek is to safeguard the safety and integrity of the people, as well as the free movement of vehicles,” argued Police Colonel Enrique Bautista, deputy commander of the Metropolitan District of Quito, who asked the demonstrators to exercise their rights without affecting the mobility of others.

PERMANENT MOBILIZATION

San Miguel was one of the most sensitive areas during this day in the Metropolitan District, where incidents of the same or lesser intensity were also recorded in the Mitad del Mundo sector, of great tourist interest, in the Valley of Los Chillos, and the Cunuyacu and Intervalles roads, which authorities evacuated again and again.

Faced with the wave of disturbances, Lasso has insisted that “it is time to be united” and made a new appeal “to dialogue, to consensus and to think about the country’s good.”

In a military ceremony, he urged “not to think about personal, partisan or union interests” but assured that the Police and the Armed Forces, the latter endorsed by the State of Emergency decreed last week, will continue to guarantee “control and order”.

On Tuesday, at least eight policemen were injured in the riots, and 37 people were arrested, for whom the unions and social movements today demanded their immediate release.

After a meeting, their leaders described the first day of protests as a “success”. According to Wilson Alvarez, they assured that “the people are no longer afraid”, president of the Ecuadorian Federation of Municipal Workers.

At a press conference in Quito, they announced a convention to promote a national strike next week, among the measures planned for what they called a “permanent mobilization”.