The president of Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso, has decreed this Friday a state of emergency in three provinces of the country in response to the national strike called by the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), which has taken to the streets for the fifth consecutive day.
For 30 days, the provinces of Pichincha, Imbabura, Cotopaxi will be under a state of emergency, which allows the deployment of the Armed Forces for citizen security and anti-crime missions, although the Ecuadorian president has not given details on the deployment of military or the imposition of a night curfew, as it has done in other exceptional regimes.
“Last night I called for dialogue and the response was more violence (…).
This forces me to declare a state of emergency in Pichincha, Imbabura, Cotopaxi starting at midnight today, “explained the Ecuadorian president in a statement broadcast by the country’s main television.
Lasso has insinuated that the organizer of the protests, CONAIE, has no intention of seeking solutions, and has accused them of causing a rise in prices by closing roads, and of putting the sick at risk by prohibiting the passage of ambulances. .
However, he has stated that “there are good people who are marching to claim just causes” and that his Executive “still” has not been able to attend. For this reason, and “to alleviate the difficult situation of Ecuadorian families”, it has announced a package of measures “with the aim of guaranteeing peace throughout the country and addressing the main demands and concerns of the population”, as explained the Presidency of the country in a statement.
“I have decided to increase the human development bonus to 55 dollars (52.40 euros), declare the Public Health System an emergency, double the budget for Intercultural Education, subsidize up to 50 percent the price of urea (fertilizers) for small and medium producers”, the Ecuadorian president has detailed.
