- Title: Tear gas, rocks and fiery barricades as Ecuadoreans protest economic reforms
- Date: 3rd October 2019
- Summary: QUITO, ECUADOR (OCTOBER 03, 2019) (REUTERS) GENERAL VIEW OF BURNING BARRICADE ON STREET, POLICE ON FAR END OF STREET, PROTESTERS ON LEFT SIDE THROWING OBJECTS IN DIRECTION OF OFFICERS PROTESTERS ON STREET AMIDST TEAR GAS IN THE AIR PROTESTERS THROWING OBJECTS AT POLICE BARRICADE FENCE BLOCKING STREET, PROTESTERS WITH TEAR GAS IN THE AIR PROTESTER SHAKING BARRICADE FENCE, PROTESTERS OUT ON STREET (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) PROTESTER, JULIO CESAR, SAYING: "Mr. Moreno, the looting (that has been blamed on protesters) was organised by his political party and it's being covered up. They should be paying for these measures, for this economic crisis. The people are mired in misery. A people who are hungry are a people who fight on." PROTESTER AFFECTED BY TEAR GAS LYING ON THE GROUND VARIOUS OF BURNING BARRICADE NEAR TAXIS THAT ARE PARKED ACROSS STREET AS PART OF BLOCKADE
- Embargoed: 17th October 2019 20:50
- Keywords: Ecuador protests economic reforms Quito barricades fire
- Location: QUITO, ECUADOR
- City: QUITO, ECUADOR
- Country: Ecuador
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Civil Unrest,Editors' Choice
- Reuters ID: LVA001AZJO4LJ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Ecuador's President Lenin Moreno declared a state of emergency on Thursday (October 03) as nationwide protests broke out over the end of decades-old fuel subsidies in a government fiscal reform package worth more than $2 billion a year.
As the fuel measure came into effect on Thursday, protesters set barricades alight and threw rocks at riot police on duty. Officers responded by using tear gas to disperse the crowd.
Moreno, who won election in 2017 to replace Rafael Correa, told reporters the "perverse" fuel subsidy, in place for 40 years, had distorted the economy and protests would not be allowed to paralyse Ecuador.
The government wants to reduce the fiscal deficit from an estimated $3.6 billion this year to under $1 billion in 2020.
Ecuador's debt grew under Correa, who endorsed Moreno in the 2017 election but has since become a critic of his successor's turn toward more market-friendly economic policies.
Moreno's government reached a $4.2 billion deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in February. But skepticism of the IMF runs strong in Ecuador and throughout Latin America, where many blame austerity policies for economic hardship.
(Production: Cristina Munoz) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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