The violence in the mobilizations promoted by the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (Conaie), against the Government of President Guillermo Lasso, has spread to several cities in Ecuador, and has left one dead, 18 missing policemen, the taking of wells oil tankers and the burning of a bank in the Amazonian city of Puyo. This Wednesday, the capital, Quito, was still under siege, without public transport, the intermittent blockade of the roads, the forced closure of shops, but there were no attacks on institutions, nor the confrontation with the forces of order, of the eve. The novelty was the march of thousands of indigenous people and peasants in various areas of the city.
The dialogue promoted by the so-called Convening Commission, which represents some 300 civil society organizations and has the technical assistance of the United Nations System and the European Union, emerged as the only option to get out of the crisis; but the president of the Conaie, Leonidas Iza
, has questioned the legitimacy of the Commission and has set new conditions for sitting at the table, while President Lasso immediately accepted.
In cities like Cuenca and Ambato there were also mobilizations, but from sectors that condemn the strike, and lament the economic losses. They encourage dialogue as the only democratic way out, but the dean of the SEK University and member of the Network of Political Scientists, María Paz Jervis, said that she did not see an honorable way out for the parties, because in the indigenous movement there is no intention of making claims , since what they want is chaos and "overthrow the Government." Along these lines, the Minister of Defense, Luis Lara, had alerted the country, pointing out that democracy in Ecuador is at serious risk, due to the concerted action of exalted people linked to violent groups that seek to create panic. For this reason, for the former Minister of Government, Mauricio Gándara, the Government needs a political strategy and determination, to "impose authority."
A clever political move by the Executive, by issuing a new state of emergency decree, incorporating two provinces, to the previous three, prevented the National Assembly (Congress) from tearing down the one in force, for which it had the necessary votes. ; In this way, the correísta block of UNES could not invoke the state of "serious social unrest", with which it intended to propose the removal of Guillermo Lasso from the Presidency of the Republic. To frustrate that claim, the decision of the Social Christian Party to anticipate that they will not have them was key. "Nebot is against insubordination," Gándara said.
In this scenario, observers comment that, from Belgium (although some say he would be in Mexico), Rafael Correa is pressuring the president of Conaie, Leonidas Iza, and other leaders, to radicalize the measure. In parallel, he has promoted an international campaign condemning Lasso's "repression of the indigenous people." In this sense, the former president of Bolivia, Evo Morales, the Sao Paulo Forum and related sectors have spoken. For María Paz Jervis, these are anarchic leftist groups that have co-opted the institutions and the narrative of defense of human rights, putting at risk that such an important conquest for humanity begins to lose followers and legitimacy.
