LIVE | Ecuador: New protests and blockades break out in Quito and other cities in the country

On the eleventh day, the protest called by the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (Conaie) keeps blocked some of the main roads of the north Andean center of Ecuador and virtually paralyzed large sectors of some cities, especially Quito.

In the early hours of Thursday, protesters gathered around the Central and Salesian universitiesin the center of the capital, where they spend the night, eat and block the nearby streets, although they do not hold protests.

LOOK: National Strike in Ecuador: Indigenous anger spreads in a militarized and exhausted Quito

The government of the president William Lasso -who according to the presidency suffers from COVID-19 but has not suspended his work- has expressed his willingness to start a dialogue aimed at finding a way out of the crisis, but The indigenous movement has set some conditions such as lifting the state of emergency and withdrawing the military and police contingent from the conflict zones.

Indigenous people protest against the government in the surroundings of the House of Ecuadorian Culture in Quito on June 23, 2022. (Martín BERNETTI / AFP).

On June 14, the Confederation began a national protest demanding a reduction in the price of gasoline from $2.55 to $2.10 a gallon, the fixing of prices by decree for agricultural products, and an increase in the budget for education. intercultural as part of an agenda of 10 demands.

Since then, the protests have become more radical and the indigenous people have looted small businesses, attacked cargo and passenger vehicles, and even attacked ambulances.

The Electric Corporation of Ecuador denounced Wednesday night in a statement that more than 300 indigenous people took over an important power station in the province of Tungurahua, key to the national high-voltage system, demanding that it be disconnected. This facility is essential for supplying the port city of Guayaquil. Station operators are being held by protesters.

Protesters march in downtown Quito, Ecuador, on Wednesday, June 22, 2022. (AP Photo/Juan Diego Montenegro).

The cities of Ibarra, Cayambe, Otavalo, Latacunga, Ambato and Cuenca, among the most important, have almost no gasoline and gas reserves and food supplies are minimal. due to road closures, especially the Pan-American, which have prevented the transport of all types of cargo and passengers.

The building of the Attorney General’s Office woke up with a strong police and military guard after the protesters attacked it for two days in a row, They entered its facilities and destroyed some documents of that institution that carries out the investigation of notorious cases of corruption, especially of former officials of the government of former President Rafael Correa (2007-2017).

The attorney general, Diana Salazar, said on her Twitter account that “the building of the State Attorney General’s Office has been attacked again; what they seek is not there. These excesses are not social protest, they are crimes. I call for peace, sanity and, above all, respect for the law.”

Source: Elcomercio