Indigenous protesters refuse to backdown as Moreno stands firm over fuel price hike

Record ID: 1435602

  • Title: Indigenous protesters refuse to backdown as Moreno stands firm over fuel price hike
  • Date: 7th October 2019
  • Summary: QUITO, ECUADOR (OCTOBER 07, 2019) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** PROTESTERS CHANTING (Spanish) "DOWN WITH MORENO" PROTESTER CHANTING AGAINST MORENO TRUCKS BARRICADING THOROUGHFARE MOTORBIKES INTERSECTING THROUGH BARRICADE TRUCK BLOCKADING ROAD (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) PROTESTER, ALEJANDRO SANCHEZ, SAYING: "It's very bad because it affects us. They (government) is allowing us to be controlled by the International Monetary Fund, putting up their own rules to give us money. It's like from before, being totally manipulated by the Fund. I prefer them (government) to go back to how the fuel price was before." VARIOUS OF TRUCKS BLOCKING ROADS PROTESTERS CHANTING (Spanish) "DOWN WITH MORENO" AND ANTI-GOVERNMENT CHANTS (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) PROTESTER, WILMER ROSAS, SAYING: "(Government) Minister (Maria Paula Romo), she needs to be brought to trial, she needs to go to jail. And Lenin (Moreno) doesn't want this. The indigenous people and different groups are not going to rest until he (Moreno) leaves government, that's what we want." NEWS CONFERENCE WITH INDIGENOUS GROUPS (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) INDIGENOUS LEADER, JAIME VARGAS, SAYING: "Different social groups are going up against the neoliberal government of the government of Lenin Moreno, mobilising, uniting and organising as the only way to defend the interests of the Ecuadorean people." INDIGENOUS GROUPS AT NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) INDIGENOUS LEADER, NELSON ERAZO, SAYING: "And at this time, our people, different (indigenous) peoples are mobilising, advancing towards the city of Quito to demand and reject these economic measures that hit the pocket of Ecuadoreans." INDIGENOUS GROUPS AT END OF NEWS CONFERENCE
  • Embargoed: 21st October 2019 18:40
  • Keywords: President Lenin Moreno indigenous protests Ecuador fuel prices Quito barricade
  • Location: QUITO + UNIDENTIFIED LOCATION, ECUADOR
  • City: QUITO + UNIDENTIFIED LOCATION, ECUADOR
  • Country: Ecuador
  • Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Civil Unrest
  • Reuters ID: LVA001B03NHON
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:Transport workers blocked streets in the Ecuadorean capital of Quito on Monday (October 07), promising no let up in their push to overturn austerity measures by President Lenin Moreno's government that have convulsed the nation.
    Commuters were forced out on foot as movement in the city ground to a halt.
    Protesters want Moreno to reverse a decision to cut fuel subsidies that have raised prices across the country. Ecuadoreans complain consumer prices have risen sharply as a knock-on effect of Moreno's abolition of fuel subsidies, which has also triggered the nation's worst unrest in more than a decade.
    Indigenous groups have been amongst the most vocal opponents of the reforms, demanding prices come back down.
    The demonstrations are 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 Moreno has stood firm on his reforms.
    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 privatisations. Moreno says the fuel subsidies, in place for four decades, had distorted the economy and cost $60 billion.
    (Production: Nacho Munoz, Cristina Munoz, Alberto Fajardo, Paul Vieira)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2019. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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