By Resumen Latinoamericano on June 26, 2022
Barricades on the streets of Quito, photo: Yurak
The situation in Ecuador at this moment is very fluid as the large militant protests remain in the streets erecting barricades and skirmishing with the police. Parliament has just re convened to continue the discussion on the impeachment of President Lasso. If this were to happen it would be another major blow against US foreign policy in the region. Here is the latest report coming from Resumen Latinoamericano’s bureau in Buenos Aires. – editor
Determined popular uprising against the repressive neo liberal government of President Guillermo Lasso continue in the streets with protestors constructing barricades to defend themselves against the army’s tanks. According to the Alianza de Organizaciones por los Derechos Humanos, since the general strike began on June 13 at least 6 demonstrators have been confirmed killed and over 300 injured in the wave of repression by the police and army in response to the mobilization. The police are not releasing figures on how many people have been arrested but it is well over 100.
Yesterday Lasso lifted the state of exception that was in force in six provinces of the country in the framework of the mobilizations called by indigenous organizations due to the lack of response of the Government to their social demands.
The state of exception had been decreed by the president since last Saturday, June 18, initially in the provinces of Imbabura, Pichincha and Cotopaxi and then extended on June 21 to the provinces of Tungurahua, Chimborazo and Pastaza. CONAIE accused Lasso of using the state of exception to quell the popular uprising.
The General Secretariat of Communication of the Presidency indicated that with the lifting of the measure, which had been a virtual lock down, the Government guarantees the generation of spaces for the majority of the population to resume their activities.
The repeal of the decree by which the state of emergency was declared was one of the requests of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) to open a new process of dialogue with the Lasso government. However, Conaie has indicated that no dialogue or rapprochement with government representatives has taken place, so the indigenous strike and mobilizations will continue in Ecuador.
Meanwhile, Ecuador’s National Assembly has returned to the debate and vote to impeach Lasso that was presented by a group of opposition assembly members. Once the debate is concluded, legislators will have 72 hours to vote on whether or not to proceed with the measure against President Guillermo Lasso.
For more than eight hours on Saturday, around 30 congressmen spoke in favor and against President Lasso in the first day of the debate on the impeachment request presented by the Union for Hope (UNES) bench, accusing the president of a serious political crisis and internal commotion that has shaken the country since the beginning of the mobilizations called by CONAIE.
The petition presented against President Lasso by UNES deputies had the support of the 47 signatures necessary to request the removal of Guillermo Lasso from power a little more than a year after being elected president. But to be approved it requires at least 92 of the 137 possible supports in Congress. If approved, power would be assumed by Vice-President Alfredo Borrero and presidential and legislative elections would be called for the remainder of the term.
In a new development the International Solidarity and Human Rights Mission has arrived in Ecuador to observe what is happening in the national strike. These special rapporteurs on the rights of indigenous peoples and the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association of the United Nations Organization have expressed their concern about the situation in Ecuador including the irregular detentions in the context of social protests, of more than 80 people, including the president of CONAIE, Leonidas Iza and the excessive use of force and acts of violence by police and military forces.
The group has asked the State to inform how it is guaranteeing due process in the deprivations of liberty carried out in the context of the national strike that began on June 13, 2022. They have also asked to explain the legal basis that regulates the use of force by the Police and Armed Forces, and to justify its application in Indigenous Peoples’ territories.
María Elena Navarro, member of the International Mission of Solidarity and Human Rights, pointed out that among the serious facts they identified, is the one restricting the right to social protest. She also indicated that the Casa de la Cultura was used as a barracks.
The International Mission confirmed the murder of five people, missing children and hundreds of detainees, “victims of State policy” which, instead of contributing to dialogue, is showing a repressive policy towards “defenseless citizens”.
Vivian Idrovo, coordinator of the Human Rights Alliance, formed by 15 organizations, expressed in a press conference: “What we lived through seems like a dictatorship, excessive use of force and the way in which they were received. These violations have no statute of limitations. The State has already violated rights, it has been evident”.