- Title: Ecuador indigenous groups, workers keep pressure on Moreno
- Date: 5th October 2019
- Summary: CAYAMBE, ECUADOR (OCTOBER 5, 2019) (REUTERS) RESIDENTS BLOCKING ROAD WITH BARRICADES WOMAN CHANTING, HOLDING STICK VARIOUS OF RESIDENTS STANDING NEXT TO BARRICADE ROAD, BARRICADE RESIDENTS STANDING BY RESIDENT STANDING, HOLDING STICK VARIOUS OF POLICE STANDING BY RESIDENTS BLOCKING ROAD, POLICE STANDING BY (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) COMMUNITY LEADER, ROSA TORRES, SAYING: "We are not going to give up. We are going to move forward, fighting for the government to overthrow the measures. If not, they will be overthrown. They will have to go home with the entire constituent assembly, which really has not helped the people. The reforms that he (Ecuador's President Lenin Moreno) has applied to the labour law, that also hurts all of us who work with a basic salary. We don't earn thousands of dollars such as the lawmakers, assembly members or parliamentarians. They are very low (wages). That's what I think. We don't agree and Lenin Moreno should go home." VARIOUS OF PEOPLE SHOUTING (Spanish): "OUT, LENIN MORENO!" AND "THE PEOPLE UNITED WILL NEVER BE DEFEATED" (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) CAYAMBE'S MAYOR, GUILLERMO CHURUCHUMBI, SAYING: "If we have to redefine the economic model, thinking about the equity and justice of Ecuadorians and in that context, these mobilizations are demanding justice and equity and if we have to stay until the last consequences, we will do so walking, thinking, fighting alongside the Ecuadorian people." PEOPLE CHANTING (Spanish): "OUT MORENO, OUT!" VARIOUS OF RESIDENTS GATHERED AROUND BARRICADES ON ROAD (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) RESIDENT, JOSUE COYAQUITO, SAYING: "Yesterday was a disastrous day, it was a sad day in our history, as a sector of Cayambe, Cangahua, Guachala, San Luis de Guachala because there were those who were seriously injured. The public force made use of weapons, of endowment. Then we intend to organise a massive march to the city of Quito for Monday with the support of other sectors, other communities." VARIOUS OF BARRICADES ON ROAD
- Embargoed: 19th October 2019 23:47
- Keywords: Ecuadorean indigenous union organizations protests overturn austerity measures Moreno government
- Location: CAYAMBE, ECUADOR
- City: CAYAMBE, ECUADOR
- Country: Ecuador
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Civil Unrest
- Reuters ID: LVA001AZTLVLZ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Ecuadorean indigenous and union organizations kept protests going on Saturday (October 5) and promised no let-up in their push to overturn austerity measures by President Lenin Moreno's government that have convulsed the nation for three days.
Demonstrations had turned violent and were shaping into a major challenge for Moreno, who won election in 2017 and has set his oil-producing nation on a centrist track after years of socialist rule under predecessor Rafael Correa.
But he got a reprieve on Friday night when transport unions called off their strike after paralysing roads for two days in opposition to the end of fuel subsidies.
Indigenous groups, however, continued on Saturday to block some roads around the Andean nation of 17 million people. Barricades of burning tires, rocks and branches were erected in some places, witnesses said, as police urged demonstrators to disperse.
Moreno, 66, has declared a two-month state of emergency and authorities have arrested 379 people after protesters hurled stones and battled police on Thursday and Friday during Ecuador's worst unrest for years.
Struggling with a large foreign debt and fiscal deficit, Moreno's government recently reached a three-year, $4.2 billion loan deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), contingent on belt-tightening economic reforms.
As well as ending fuel subsidies, the government is reducing the state workforce and planning some privatizations. Moreno says the fuel subsidies, in place for four decades, had distorted the economy and cost $60 billion.
(Production: Alberto Fajardo, Geraldine Downer) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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