Protests against the government of Ecuador announced amid rebound in COVID-19

The so-called Popular Front (FP) that brings together social sectors of workers, teachers, peasants, students and groups of women from Ecuador announced protests against the government’s economic policy on Sunday, amid a spike in coronavirus cases.

“On 19 (January) we will be present at all the days of national mobilization,” the national president of the FP, Nelson Erazo, told AFP.

The protest is due to “the stupidity of the government to maintain the price of fuel as it has been up to now and intends to privatize public institutions,” he cited among the arguments.

The announcement coincides with a weekly increase in COVID-19 cases similar to that of the “worst outbreaks” of the pandemic, although without a significant increase in mortality, Health Minister Ximena Garzón said on Friday.

The minister estimated that the current epidemiological week will exceed 10,000 infections.

He added that it is an “epidemiological condition very similar” to that experienced by the nation between April 25 and May 1, 2021, when it registered a weekly record with almost 14,000 cases, according to the University registry. Johns Hopkins.

– Double mask –

In a statement with the resolutions of an assembly on Saturday, the FP urged to “prepare actions” to protest against the government.

“On January 12 we started with rallies and sit-ins in front of everything related to (public) Social Security,” explained Erazo, for whom “the government wants to hand it over to private firms.”

He anticipated that “we are going with all the biosecurity measures, we are going to always demand the double mask” to participate in the demonstrations.

However, he left open the possibility of reviewing the measure “evaluating how the covid situation is going and respecting the health of all Ecuadorians.”

The FP rejects “the anti-popular and neoliberal policy” of the right-wing president Guillermo Lasso, who maintains several agreements with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to receive loans.

Lasso decreed increases of up to 12% last year, taking diesel from $ 1.69 to $ 1.90 and gasoline from $ 2.50 to $ 2.55. Since 2020 the value of fuels in Ecuador has grown progressively by 90%.

This increase caused marches and road closures by indigenous sectors and workers throughout the country, which left 37 detainees and eight police officers injured.

– Indigenous people and fuels –

The Popular Front also expressed solidarity “with Leonidas Iza and the rest of the social leaders persecuted by this and previous governments.”

Lasso accused Iza, the top indigenous leader, of wanting to “overthrow” his government and called him an “enemy” of democracy.

The president of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (Conaie) since last June, for his part, has described the president who assumed power on May 24, 2021 as “fascist.” The alliance of social sectors asks to lower the price of US gallon (3.78 liters) of diesel at $ 1.50 and of regular gasoline at $ 2.10, something that Lasso has already ruled out.

Meanwhile, Conaie, which has not yet defined whether it will support this mobilization, led violent protests in October 2019 against the fuel hike, which left eleven dead and forced then-President Lenín Moreno (2017-2021) to back down with increases.