Ecuador: Intransigence, curfew and repression …

From Quito

The President of Ecuador, Lenín Moreno, ordered Saturday the "curfew and militarization" of Quito and its environs because of the violence in the demonstrations unleashed 11 days ago against the economic reforms agreed by his government with the IMF.

"I have organized the curfew and the militarization of the DMQuito and its valleys.The government will start to govern at 3 pm This will facilitate the action of the public force against the intolerable excesses of violence", said the president on Twitter. In a televised message explaining his decision, the president added: "These are the traffickers, the drug traffickers, the criminal Latin kings and the Correanists devoted to acts of vandalism. Indigenous peoples have already detected them and are separating them from their ranks. "

Beyond the constant search for scapegoats to explain the social outburst – Moreno had already blamed his Venezuelan counterpart and his Chavismo for the popular uprising – the truth is that the center of Quito had become a permanent battlefield. The repression of Lenin Moreno's government extends day and night and access to the National Assembly is cut off by dozens of barricades where a central slogan is repeated: "outside Moreno apart".

The pulse takes ten days and has degenerated into widespread and state-wide popular violence. There was first the carriers, then the indigenous movement, centrally the coordinator of indigenous nationalities (CONAIE), and in recent days it has expanded: young people, slums, half-breeds, whites, workers.

The starting point, the drop that surpassed the glass, was the announcement by Moreno to implement a series of adjustment measures as part of the agreement signed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a $ 10 billion loan. The critical point in the so-called "package" was Decree 883 which removed the gasoline subsidy with its consequent increase from the service station to the plate of food.

The government's position was from the outset the refusal to back down: decreed the state of exception and then the curfew. Moreno moved from the city of Quito to Guayaquil – we do not know where he is now – and from there he commanded the response to the mobilization that he underestimated.

Over the days, the popular reaction has grown: mobilizations in different cities, roadblocks at the national level, and the confluence of a great mobilization of CONAIE and other indigenous movements who arrived in Quito last Wednesday.

The position of CONAIE has remained the same since the beginning of the demonstrations: they will neither dialogue nor withdraw from the street until Moreno has ceded with the decree 883 and all the measures requested by the IMF .

Until Friday, Moreno's response had been rather not to back down and increase the level of repression, with a total of five deaths according to the Ombudsman – some organizations speak of seven – more than one. a thousand inmates and wounded. Friday night was particularly violentThe repression reached the agreed rest stops for the indigenous movement.

Quito woke up Saturday with barricades and gas, in a rising popular landscape featuring indigenous women and men from mountains, coasts and the Amazon, youth, workers, a crowd before the legislative and presidential power. Over the hours, protesters from different parts of the capital joined the movement.

The mayor of Quito, Jorge Yunda, announced in a statement: "Mr. President, given the sensitivity of what is happening in the country, he agreed to analyze Decree 883". The impact of this announcement seems uncertain, given that the day before, the president had called for dialogue, then intensified the dimension of repression.

However, CONAIE has not missed the opportunity to reiterate its position. "We stress the need for a direct and public dialogue on Decree 883 for its repeal or revision, and we make it clear that we will not discuss any compensation," he said.

While CONAIE's position remains solid in its conditions of dialogue, former President Rafael Correa – who is in Belgium and faces various legal charges as part of what has been denounced as a process of law– called to hold early general elections. "The 2008 Constitution established in Articles 130 and 148 that, in case of" serious politics or internal disturbances ", the Assembly or the President may anticipate the general elections, while they are waiting for them?"

At the present time, the power block that Moreno holds has shown no sign of taking his back. It has this support to maintain a difficult position, but it faces an internal unrest that has no horizon of completion in this upward spiral of mobilization and repression that does not dissuade the demonstrators, but intensifies the confrontation.

According to indigenous leaders, such as Ricardo Ulcuango Farinango – who was vice president of CONAIE – the movement has the opportunity to maintain this level of protest and blockade. It also has the solidarity of many residents of Quito who come to provide food, drinks, clothing, medicine and logistics to cope with the situation.

Although CONAIE is not the only actor on the street, it is he who supports the main level of mobilization and radicalism.. His recent trip was marked by a policy of opposition to the previous government of Rafael Correa by sectors of his leadership, as well as by the participation of some leaders of the Moreno government who broke with this scenario.

The open crisis in Ecuador is therefore twofold: a president who has betrayed his promise of government and faces a very weak legitimacy, and a project of neoliberal reconquest whose last step is to subordinate to the IMF. This is disputed on the roads of the country and the streets of Quito that have become a battleground in a country where, recently, three presidents have been dismissed by an indigenous and popular mobilization.