ECUADOR-PROTEST Indigenous opposition groups in Ecuador demonstrate against President Rafael Correa while supporters in Cuba rally in his defence

Record ID: 144058

  • Title: ECUADOR-PROTEST Indigenous opposition groups in Ecuador demonstrate against President Rafael Correa while supporters in Cuba rally in his defence
  • Date: 13th August 2015
  • Summary: PROTESTERS LISTENING TO ANTHEM AND RAISING VENEZUELAN FLAG
  • Embargoed: 28th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Cuba
  • Country: Cuba
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVABUSPCCCTU925J7CCYVNV855QS
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Hundreds of protesters comprised of indigenous opposition groups in Ecuador barricaded the Panamerican highway on Thursday (August 13) in Chasqui, approximately 80 km (49 miles) from the capital of Quito.
    The blockade was just one of the demonstrations planned for Thursday as part of a nationwide strike organized by labour unions and social organizations to denouce a series of controversial policy proposals from Correa's embattled administration such as inheritance tax, constitutional amendments and labour regulations.
    "We will continue this fight indefinitely, we will defend ourselves, this has been resistance and today we have come together under the flag of struggle, the flag of resistance, here nothing that finances the right [right-wing], that finances the rich, here with our efforts, comrades with your cucayo (Indigenous snack), not like the government of the citizen's revolution with their sandwiches, paid cars, paid daily expenses or their mandatory participation, here it's about freedom and work," said Julio Cesar Piralungo, president of the Cotopaxi Indigenous Movement.
    Several hundred thousand Ecuadoreans have participated in demonstrations since June, mainly in the highland capital Quito and coastal city of Guayaquil, against socialist President Rafael Correa, who accuses them of plotting a coup.
    Protesters danced to traditional music while chanting anti-government slogans.
    Gonzalo Espin, president the Assembly of Parishes, said that the time for dialogue had elapsed in reference to failed talks between the government and various social organizations in an attempt to avoid the strike.
    "There's already been time for dialogue, there was a space, there were mechanisms, however I think that they haven't occurred and in these recent times, in terms of eight days a dialogue is not warranted because it's too late and the laws have been established so only if they derogated all the laws would a conversation be possible, but I think that it's too late now," he said.
    The protesters' main targets are increases in capital gains and inheritance taxes, which the government says will only impact the richest sector of the population. Others include Correa's treatment of opponents.
    Correa, a 52-year-old economist who came to power in 2007, has been popular among the poor because of welfare policies, paid for from oil revenues, and for bringing stability.
    As other opposition marches kicked off in Ecuador on Thursday afternoon (August 13) dozens of Correa sympathizers held a rally in Havana, Cuba to show support for the leader and his policies.
    Kenia Serrano, president of the Cuban Institute for Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP), spoke in defence of Correa's 'citizen's revolution' saying that it benefitted the most historically downtrodden sectors of society.
    "All of these acts [in reference to protests against Correa] really just want to reverse the citizen's revolution, the citizen's revolution has been extremely beneficial for the most historically excluded sectors in Ecuador, as has happened in other countries in the region and really our demonstrations are to show international support for the citizen's revolution," said Serrano.
    Edgar Ponce, Ecuador's ambassador to Cuba, participated in the demonstration alongside other ambassadors from countries belonging to the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our Americas (ALBA).
    Ecuadorean flags were waved in the crowd, in addition to those from countries such as Venezuela and Cuba.
    Diosne Livero, a Venezuelan living in Cuba, said the opposition protesters in Ecuador were trying to overthow the government and compared Correa's situation with allied leftist Latin American governments in Bolivia, Venezuela and Argentina.
    "I'm here supporting Rafael Correa and the Ecuadorean people against the destabilizing movements in the country that want to overthrow the Ecuadorean government, democracy in Latin America, because it's not only Correa, it's Evo [Bolivian President Evo Morales] it's the Comandante Nicholas Maduro [President of Venezuela], it's Cristina Kirchner [President of Argentina]," he said.
    Ecuador's next presidential election is due in 2017.
    Correa is not allowed to stand for a third term but is backing constitutional reforms that would allow indefinite presidential re-election.
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