Ecuador clashes rage despite military-backed curfew
QUITO, (Reuters) - Ecuadorean police battled masked men who launched homemade projectiles at them in downtown Quito yesterday, as protesters defied a curfew that was imposed by President Lenin Moreno in a bid to quell anti-austerity unrest.
Parts of the highland city of nearly 3 million people resembled a war zone, with armuored military vehicles patrolling some streets and sounds resembling explosions and shots ringing out. In the historic center, men took shelter behind makeshift barricades amid plumes of tear gas, according to Reuters witnesses.
Ecuadoreans posted videos on social media of burning road blockades as the 11th day of unrest over cuts to fuel subsidies threatened to derail the first talks aimed at reestablishing peace.
An initial round of dialogue between the government and protest leaders began yesterday after being delayed by three hours because of “operational difficulties,” said the United Nations in Ecuador, one of the mediators.
The unrest was the worst in the small South American country in more than a decade and the latest flashpoint of opposition to the International Monetary Fund in Latin America.
Moreno, who took office in 2017, signed a $4.2 billion deal with the IMF earlier this year, angering many of his former supporters who voted for him as the left-leaning successor of his former ally, Rafael Correa. He defended his cuts to fuel subsidies as a key part of his bid to clean up the country’s finances, but denies the measure was required by the IMF.
The unrest first erupted with protests led by truck drivers. Indigenous demonstrators have since taken the lead, although they have said extremists from outside their ranks have sought to instigate clashes. They slammed the government for what they describe as a disproportionate crackdown.
Moreno, who announced last Monday he had moved his government to Guayaquil, ordered a curfew in Quito and surrounding valleys on Saturday and ordered the military to use force if needed to restore calm across the country.
But amid widespread defiance of the curfew in Quito early yesterday, the military said it had lifted the emergency measure in the city until 8 p.m. (0100 GMT Monday), except in northern parts of the city near the nastiest clashes.
Chief protester organizer Jaime Vargas said that members of the umbrella indigenous organization Conaie would keep holding protests until Moreno reinstates fuel subsidies.
“Right now, across the country, they’re mobilized,” Vargas said on Sunday in a video posted on social media. “That’s our way of resisting.”