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Ecuador

Indigenous Resistance And The Roots Of Ecuador’s National Strike

November 17, 2022 Ashley Bishop, The Real News Network. , , ,
“He was my uncle. They killed him during the strike in the center of Puyo, here in Ecuador. He was my uncle, he was Oldemar Guatatoca Vargas.” Yolanda Vargas, a Shuar woman in her mid-30s, sits in her parked car in the remote jungle outpost of Palora, located within the province of Morona Santiago. She drove out there so she could get a cell phone signal to talk to me. The ride from her community takes roughly an hour over the dirt roads winding a narrow path through the Amazon. With everyone else in the community, besides her elderly and sick mother, in the capital of Quito taking part in El Paro Nacional—the National Strike—she’s had to bring her school-aged children with her, smooshed shoulder-to-shoulder in the front and back seats.

Corruption Exposed: US Meddled In Ecuador’s Election

November 12, 2022 Ben Norton, Multipolarista. , , ,
A former minister of Ecuador testified that the US government conspired with a right-wing political party to run a disinformation campaign against the leftist Correísta movement, backing a millionaire banker for president in exchange for giving up journalist Julian Assange, who had asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy. Ecuador’s former energy minister testified that the US government conspired with a right-wing political party to run a disinformation campaign against the leftist Correísta movement of ex President Rafael Correa. He said that US “federal agents” pledged to help “influence” the 2017 presidential elections and support the candidacy of conservative millionaire banker Guillermo Lasso in exchange for the promise to turn over journalist Julian Assange, who had been given asylum by Correa and was stuck living for years in Ecuador’s embassy in London.

Ecuador: Anti-Neoliberal Resistance

October 16, 2022 Irene León and José Agualsaca, Resumen English. , , ,
A neoliberal ‘redesign’ of the State is underway in Ecuador, activated since 2017 through different surreptitious tactics, especially “lawfare”, known for resorting to judicial and media plots as ruses to reverse alternative projects.  Also on the scene are different expressions of authoritarianism, which are con-substantial to the pursuit of the neoliberal model, to impose the dominance of the market over the interests of society.  It is a programmatic agenda, which is made possible by the conversion of State institutions into minimal operational agencies, in charge of executive aspects to attend primarily to private actors, especially transnational and national corporations, financial capital and related. In this case, the imposition of a radical neoliberalism brings with it the destruction of a sovereignty project, constitutionally based (2008) on a perspective of the common good and the public, with a horizon projection that places Good Living as a counter-hegemonic proposal, aiming at the primacy of life rather than the reproduction of capital.

The Rights Of Nature Movement Cannot Be Stopped

September 28, 2022 Pamela Haines , Waging Nonviolence. , , ,
The Ecuadorian constitution, since 2008, has stated: ”Nature or Pachamama, where life is reproduced and exists, has the right to exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles, structure, functions and its processes in evolution.” This bold statement galvanized the rights to nature movement across the globe. Its growing reach, along with a precedent-setting court decision earlier this winter, illustrate the power of invoking legalized rights in protecting endangered ecosystems. The importance of rights of nature is deeply rooted in Indigenous understandings of the interconnectedness of all life. In this century, the legal movement for protection has looped from the Navajo Nation through a small town in Pennsylvania, to Ecuador then across the world, returning to native communities of North America, and back to Ecuador.

National Strike In Ecuador Was Also A Strike For People’s Health

July 6, 2022 People's Dispatch. , , ,
After more than two weeks of mobilization, people’s movements in Ecuador reached an agreement with the government, bringing the national strike to halt. On Thursday, June 30, representatives of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), the Council of Indigenous Evangelical Peoples and Organizations of Ecuador (FEINE) and the National Confederation of Peasant, Indigenous and Afro-descendant Organizations (FENOCIN) formally recognized a list of measures announced by the government, including a 15-cent reduction of the price of diesel fuel per gallon and a continuation of the discussion on the inclusion of Indigenous communities in debates that impact their livelihoods, like exploitation of land and water sources.

National Strike In Ecuador Completes 15 Days, Struggle Continues

July 1, 2022 Tanya Wadhwa, People's Dispatch. , , ,
Monday, June 27 marked 15 days since the beginning of the national strike in Ecuador against the right-wing government of President Guillermo Lasso and his neoliberal economic policies. Since June 13, hundreds of thousands of people have been organizing protests and roadblocks across the country with a set of 10 demands that support the working class in the face of rising inflation and cost of living. On Monday, under the banner of “There are 10 demands, not 10 cents”, members of various peasant, Indigenous and Afro-descendant organizations held a massive march in capital Quito to mark 15 days of the national strike and reinforce their social demands. The demands include: reduction and freeze of fuel prices; employment opportunities and labor guarantees...

Ecuador: Indigenous Groups Lead National Rebellion Over Inflation

June 30, 2022 Abayomi Azikiwe, Popular Resistance. , , ,
An alliance of Indigenous organizations in Ecuador have held daily demonstrations after sharp increases in the costs for fuel and food. The Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) began their general strike actions on June 13 after huge price hikes crippled the capacity of rural and urban communities to access transportation and food for their households. In response to the demonstrations and an assortment of other forms of resistance, President Guillermo Lasso has declared a state of emergency in several provinces of the South American state. The order reads in part that: "To declare a state of exception due to serious internal commotion in the provinces of Azuay (south), Imbabura (north), Sucumbios (east) and Orellana (east).” 

In Solidarity With The Ecuadorian People

June 25, 2022 Network of Intellectuals and Artists in Defense of Humanity, Resumen English. , , ,
The Ecuadorian people, with the indigenous and peasant movement at the forefront, have taken to the streets to express their resistance to the adverse impacts of the extreme neoliberal policies implemented by the government of banker Guillermo Lasso.  The peaceful nationwide mobilization is demanding from the government response to critical aspects that affect the people in their daily lives, such as the lack of employment and labor rights, a moratorium and renegotiation of personal and family debts, fair prices for peasant production, control of basic prices and an end to speculation, fuel prices, respect for collective rights, no privatization of strategic sectors and public patrimony, funds for healthcare, limits to mining and oil extraction, education for all and effective security and protection policies.

Ecuador: Government And Indigenous Movements Very Far From Dialogue

June 24, 2022 Orinoco Tribune. , , ,
On the 10th day of the national strike in Ecuador, the president of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), Leonidas Iza, presented four conditions to the government of Guillermo Lasso before entering negotiations. The most significant condition was the end of police repression and cancellation of the nationwide state of exception. The indigenous leader also requested assurances that the government would not impose new decrees during the national strike, an end to attacks on demonstrators, respect for the humanitarian protection zones. Government response to requests In response, Ecuador’s Minister of the Interior, Patricio Carrillo, said that the government would not give in to the requests made by the Indigenous movements as conditions to end the national strike, which began on June 13. In addition, Carrillo announced the administration’s decision to implement a night curfew in an attempt to reduce demonstrations.

Another Young Ecuadorian Dies During National Strike

June 22, 2022 Telesur English. , , ,
On Tuesday, the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of the Ecuadorian Amazon (CONFENAIE) denounced the death of an Indigenous protester as a result of police brutality in the city of Puyo, in the province of Pastaza. "The hands of the National Police and the Guillermo Lasso administration are stained with the blood of our brother who was vilely murdered with a shot at close range," the CONFENIAE said and released images in which Byron Guatatuca can be seen dying on the ground. . The Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) denounced that the repression has increased since President Lasso decreed the State of Exception to try to end the national strike, which has already completed 9 consecutive days.

Indigenous Protesters Continue To Arrive In Ecuador’s Capital City

June 21, 2022 Telesur English. , , ,
Hundreds of demonstrators continued to enter Ecuador's capital on Monday during the eighth day of a mobilization against the government called by the indigenous movement, while the blockade of roads connecting the city of Quito (north) with the north and south of the country is maintained, Images published on social networks show people walking on the road or in buckets of pick-up trucks in their eagerness to mobilize. In the afternoon, the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) reported the arrival of indigenous people from the south of the country, who are currently near the Machachi canton (center), bordering the province of Pichincha, whose capital is Quito.

Ecuadorian Indigenous Peoples Say National Strike Continues

June 18, 2022 Telesur English. , , ,
On Friday, the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) President Leonidas Iza ratified that his organization will maintain the national strike as long as President Guillermo Lasso does not repeal his neoliberal policies and measures. He also announced that more Indigenous communities will undertake a march from the province of Cotopaxi to Quito City in the next 48 hours, for which his organization is making arrangements to guarantee some food for the thousands of protesters. In response to what Lasso said during a national television channel on Thursday night, Iza recalled that Ecuadorian social organizations have expressed their demands on several occasions and tried to find solutions to them through dialogue processes. The government, however, has not listened to the citizens.

Ecuador: CONAIE And Unions To Maintain National Strike

June 16, 2022 Kawsachun News. , , ,
The government’s attempt to quell protests by sweeping up alleged leaders not only failed, it backfired. News of the arrest of Leonidas Iza, president of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), mobilized thousands of people to the Latacunga prison where he was taken and prompted a sea of condemnation of the government from a broad range of organizations, human rights groups and prominent figures. Lawmakers of the **left-wing Revolución Ciudadana were among those who denounced Lasso’s politically-motivated arrest and persecution of the indigenous leader. Iza’s 24 hours in custody ended when a judge accepted his request for alternative measures while the prosecutor initiates an investigation into the ‘paralysis of public services’ due to the national strike.

Ecuadorian Indigenous Organizations Start Strike Against Lasso

June 13, 2022 Telesur English. , , ,
From the early hours of Monday, the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) began a national strike against the government of Guillermo Lasso by blocking highways in provinces such as Pastaza, Napo, and Guayas. CONAIE President Leonidas Iza said that the social mobilization, which will continue for an indefinite period of time, emerges as a result of the reluctance of the Lasso administration to continue the dialogue process, the last meeting of which took place on November 10, 2021. Since then, Indigenous communities and farmers have been requested the reduction of fuel prices, the renegotiation of debts, the reduction of interest rates, fair prices for agricultural producers, job creation, and respect for labor rights.

Trial Of Ola Bini Resumes In Ecuador

May 18, 2022 People's Dispatch. , ,
The much-awaited trial of Swedish software developer and digital rights activist Ola Bini resumed in Ecuador on Monday, May 16. The current leg of the trial against Bini is continuing with the proceedings from an earlier three-day session that was held in January this year. The ongoing session will be on till Friday, May 20 and is expected to conclude the trial portion of the proceedings. The trial began after more than five hours of delay as the translator assigned for Bini arrived late to the court due to a reported misunderstanding. Bini has been charged with one count of illegal, non-consensual access to a computer or communications system, which carries a jail sentence of anywhere between three to five years. He was arrested in April 2019 by the Ecuadorian police in a process marred by major procedural lapses.
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