Indigenous people agree to dialogue with government after strike

The Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities announced on Monday that it agrees to dialogue with the government to promote solutions to the demands that generated a strike and violent protests in the last two weeks in Ecuador.

The indigenous organization, the main of its kind in the Andean nation, said in a statement that the measure is a decision taken collectively from its bases and that the objective will be to create spaces that guarantee the possible results that are achieved in the dialogue.

Meanwhile, a large march gathered in a square in the historic center after going through several streets in the center of Quito and led by the maximum leader Leonidas Iza.

It is expected that in the next few minutes the indigenous leaders will go to the La Basílica church where the meeting with government delegates will take place, the statement said.

Shortly before, the indigenous people rejected President Guillermo Lasso’s announcement to reduce gasoline and diesel prices by 10 cents on the dollar and described the measure as insensitive and insufficient, while the national strike called by that sector extended amid the demonstrations.

The announcement “is not compatible with the situation of poverty faced by millions of families,” the organization said in a previous statement. He assured that despite the “repressive response of the State… we have stood firm and continue to demonstrate to Ecuador and the world the legitimacy of our struggle.”

Meanwhile, the Minister of the Interior, Patricio Carrillo, reported on Monday that the crimes committed in the framework of these two weeks of demonstrations have been prosecuted and that the Prosecutor’s Office is investigating some 42 cases.

Carrillo reported three deaths as a direct cause of the protests and two due to accidental reasons and natural death, 28 kidnappings of members of the police and the Armed Forces – who are already at liberty -, 175 seriously injured policemen, 30 units destroyed police surveillance and the loss of 30 vehicles of the institution, in addition to the theft of weapons.

He indicated that despite the elimination of the state of exception, the public force maintains the security devices. On Monday, there was a decrease in road closures from 350 at the beginning of the demonstrations to 77, while some 1,500 people participate in protest activities compared to the 15,000 that were previously registered.

After the price reduction announcement, Lasso stated that “Ecuadorians who seek dialogue will find a government with an outstretched hand. Those who seek chaos, violence and terrorism, all the force of the law ”and he called for the country to return to normality.

The indigenous strike, which has mainly affected the north central Andean provinces with iron blockades of the main highways, especially the Pan-American, has caused shortages of food, gasoline and gas for domestic use and the impossibility of moving around the country.

In Quito there have been violent marches and clashes with law enforcement officials, attacks on private vehicles and looting of small businesses.

Lasso also announced the increase in the budget for education, the total forgiveness of overdue credits of farmers in a state bank, the emergency declaration of the public health system -with the purpose of providing it with medicines and equipment-, among other requests that were among the 10 points demanded by the indigenous people.

The situation occurs when the Assembly debates a request for the impeachment of President Lasso raised by the Union for Hope party linked to President Rafael Correa (2007-2017), which seems to have little chance of being fulfilled because it does not have the endorsement of at least 92 legislators required by the constitution.

During the weekend, in the capital and other cities there were no marches or acts of violence as usual in recent days, although the city of Cuenca, 310 kilometers south of the capital, is without gasoline, gas for use domestic or hospital oxygen.

According to government estimates, the indigenous protests have caused more than 500 million dollars in economic losses in the public and private sectors until the weekend, when the Ministry of Energy has indicated that Ecuador is about to suspend all activities. oil companies due to unemployment.

Oil is the country’s largest export product, to whose fiscal box it contributes around 30% of income.

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