Arrests, death as protests enter fourth day
QUITO: Ecuadorean authorities began arresting shopkeepers for raising food prices as indigenous groups clashed with security forces yesterday in a fourth day of protests against President Lenin Moreno’s austerity measures.
One man died in Azuay province when roadblocks prevented an ambulance from reaching him after he was hit by a car, authorities said. Local media identified him as a protester.
Ecuadoreans complain consumer prices have risen sharply due to Moreno’s abolition of fuel subsidies, which has also triggered the nation’s worst unrest in more than a decade.
‘‘Everyone’s raising prices with the excuse of the gasoline price rise,’’ disgruntled pensioner Camilo Salazar (65) said at a food market in the city of Guayaquil, where prices have risen by up to a third in just a few days.
The government said 20 people were detained over the weekend for overcharging for products including corn, onions, carrots and potatoes, which are all subject to price controls.
Ecuador’s dollarised economy had inflation of just 0.27% in 2018.
After a twoday strike by transport unions, indigenous groups have taken the lead in demonstrations against Moreno’s economic measures. They barricaded roads again yesterday with burning tyres, branches and rocks.
Some protesters threw stones at security forces, who responded with tear gas. The Conaie umbrella indigenous group published a video showing spearwielding inhabitants blocking a road and shouting ‘‘Down with the government!’’.
Moreno (66) won the 2017 election and has set the oilproducing nation on a centrist track after years of socialist rule under predecessor Rafael Correa.
Moreno has declared a twomonth state of emergency.
Witnesses said in Lasso, south of Quito, indigenous groups captured several soldiers after violent confrontations.
Struggling with foreign debt and fiscal deficit, Quito this year reached a $4.2 billion loan deal with the International Monetary Fund that requires belttightening economic reforms.