As if the violence due to the presence of organized crime was not enough torment for the government of President Guillermo Lasso, who celebrated a year in office in May, since 00:00 on Monday, he faces an indefinite national strike, called by the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (Conaie), which has the support of several social organizations, as well as banana producers and drivers in some provinces, and anti-mining groups.
Given the failure of the dialogue, the Conaie raises 10 demands, among which the reduction in the price of diesel and extra gasoline and ecopaís stand out; the one-year moratorium and the renegotiation of debts and the reduction of interest in the financial system of four million families; the non-privatization of strategic sectors and the creation of employment, among others.
While these approaches are the reasons for the strikes, in an audio released by the intelligence services, the president of the Conaie, Leonidas Iza, in a concentration of indigenous and peasants, speaks that in order to ‘get off’ (remove) the President of the Republic, a very strong de facto measure is needed, which has deserved the rejection of broad sectors, and the protest of the authorities. For analysts, the hand of Correismo is behind the protests, with the intention of destabilizing the Government.
Returning from the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles, President Lasso stressed that political groups seeking chaos cannot be allowed to paralyze the country, when we are beginning to reactivate ourselves after the Covid-19 pandemic; for which he called on the directors of the Conaie not to sow chaos. “We are not going to allow the interruption of roads and the paralysis of public services.”
The Minister of the Interior and Police General, Patricio Carrillo, has gone further by pointing out that the demands are a strategy to victimize himself, because there will be kidnappings of police officers and the seizure of oil wells, which generated strong criticism from Conaie, which considers the crackdown announcement. With the memory of the violent acts of October 2019 when the streets of Quito were destroyed and many buildings were set on fire, during the government of Lenín Moreno, Mayor Santiago Guarderas has said that they will defend the city and will not allow it to be attacked. .
From the production sectors, it has been requested that the mobilizations be peaceful and dialogue is encouraged, but the president of Ecuarunari, Carlos Sucuzhañay, has anticipated that the measure will be indefinite, until their demands are met.
