QUITO:Demonstrators in Ecuador on Tuesday protested against the economic policies of conservative President Guillermo Lasso days after he raised gasoline prices, with road blockades taking place in some parts of the country.
Lasso, an ex-banker who took office in May, last week scrapped https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/ecuador-scrap-monthly-fuel-price-increases-establishes-fixed-price-lasso-2021-10-22 planned incremental rises in gasoline charges meant to eventually align with international costs following pressure by indigenous and other organizations.
He opted instead to raise the price of gasoline extra to a fixed $2.55 a gallon and diesel to $1.90 a gallon.
But unions and other groups want Lasso to freeze prices for gasoline extra, the country’s most-used fuel, and diesel at lower rates and to exempt sectors hit hard by COVID-19.
Lasso is already negotiating a potential compensation scheme with the trucking industry and says he is open to talks with other groups.
Gasoline costs have risen significantly since Lasso’s predecessor Lenin Moreno began monthly increases in May 2020.
“The people are saying we cannot be the only ones who carry the gasoline prices,” Leonidas Iza, president of the Ecuador Confederation of Indigenous Nations (CONAIE), told demonstrators in Panzaleo, in central Ecuador. “We didn’t come to destabilize, we came to make economic demands of the government.”
Traffic in capital Quito was normal on Tuesday morning. Major unions have urged their members to march beginning at 4 p.m. local time.
In other areas, including on the road which connects Quito to the country’s north, sections were blocked with earth and trees.
Roads in various Andean provinces were closed, emergency services ECU 911 said, while indigenous organization CONFENIAE said some roadways in the country’s Amazon region had been shuttered from the early morning.
Presidential spokesman Carlos Jijon told journalists all highways were functioning and 18 people were arrested for blocking transit.
“Up to now it’s a rural protest of low intensity,” Jijon said. “The government declares its intention to maintain order and help those who wish to go to work.”
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