Lenín Moreno examines the gasoline subsidy and will meet the indigenous people to end the chaos

The government of Lenín Moreno and the indigenous movement will hold this Sunday a first meeting of dialogue in search of a solution to the social crisis that has raged in Ecuador for 11 days and whose capital is plunged into chaos and violence.

This first meeting will be held at 15 in Quito, informed the United Nations office in Ecuador in a joint statement with the Catholic Church.

"We are counting on the good will of everyone to establish a dialogue in good faith and find a quick solution to the complex situation in the country," said the text posted on Twitter.

The announcement came Saturday night, after a day of violence that plunged Quito into chaos and led the government to impose a curfew.

Moreno thanked the decision of the original peoples to finally sit down and talk. The Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities (Conaie), which has in principle rejected the dialogue, said the meetings would focus on "the repeal or revision of the decree" which removed subsidies by increasing until the end of the year. 123% diesel and gasoline.

The day of rejection of the measures agreed with the IMF – including the elimination of fuel subsidies – has intensified in a few hours. Groups of hooded men burned and ransacked the controller's headquarters.

The environs of the National Assembly looked like a battlefield. Indigenous peoples erected barricades with logs and wooden shields, as well as stones and fireworks with the police, who responded with tear gas.

This Sunday, Pope Francis said that "follow with concern" the situation in Ecuador and encouraged "to seek social peace", before the prayer of the Angelus.

Moreno imposed the curfew undefined and ordered to militarize the capital of 2.7 million inhabitants. The drastic measure banned traffic in Quito and its surroundings from Saturday 15.

"It's a sad day for Ecuador, for Quito, for the history of our country," lamented the president in a message to the nation.
Until late at night, security forces fought with demonstrators to impose order.

Moreno, who offered the Indians a direct dialogue, is ruling in Guayaquil, where he moved the presidential seat after declaring the state's national exception on 3 October and mobilized the armed forces.

Since the protests began, six civilians have been killed and about 2,100 injured and detained, according to the Ombudsman's office. Demonstrations also prevent the transport of oil – the biggest source of foreign currency – through the country's main pipeline due to the occupation of wells in the Amazon.

Covered by the exception figure, which allows in principle to restrict certain rights for 30 days, the government had already planned the night curfew around public buildings in the capital.

But now he has expanded and strengthened the measure. The people, who emptied the streets little by little, demanded the end of the official repression. "Where are the mothers and fathers of the police, why do they let them kill us?" Cried the native Nancy Quinyupani with tears.

The press has also been the target of violence. The protesters attacked the facilities of Teleamazonas and El Comercio newspaper. The channel, which remains on the air, expelled 25 workers without reporting casualties.

"For about half an hour, we were attacked, they started stoning, forcing doors and then throwing firebombs," said Milton Pérez, journalist and presenter of Teleamazonas.

El Comercio, the main Quito newspaper, reported on Twitter that its headquarters had been attacked, without giving further details. Conaie denied that his militants were involved in these assaults.

Moreno accused his predecessor, Rafael Correa, and Venezuelan President, Nicolás Maduro, of being after what happened Saturday. "The dark forces, linked to the political crime organized and led by Correa and Maduro – in complicity in drug trafficking, with gangs, with violent foreign citizens – have caused anxiety, violence never seen before," he said. he declares. Both leaders rejected Moreno's insistent remarks.

In power since 2017, Moreno faces its biggest crisis reforms that have agreed with the IMF to alleviate the heavy budget deficit at the origin of the waste and debt of Correa government.

In addition to the end of the subsidies, the measures provide cut the rights of employees in the public sector. The indigenous people, who make up 25 percent of the 17.3 million Ecuadorians, are the most punished by poverty and work mainly in the countryside.

With the release of fuel prices, they must pay more to transport their products while fearing widespread inflation.