Repression in Ecuador

theguardian.com/David Hill – Would you believe me if I told you that while president Rafael Correa was singing “Hasta siempre, comandante” with a band in the main square in central Quito last Thursday night just one block away riot police were tear-gassing and clubbing Ecuadorian citizens? Or that elsewhere in Ecuador the police have been reported to be specifically targeting female protestors’ “intimate parts”?

Ecuador is currently in turmoil. Thousands of people are protesting proposed constitutional amendments, the expansion of the oil frontier, mining projects, changes to water and education policy, labour laws and pensions, a proposed “Free Trade Agreement” (FTA) with the European Union (EU), and increasing repression of freedom of speech, among other things. The government’s response? To send the police and military with batons and tear-gas to beat citizens, make arbitrary arrests, raid homes and even – some people believe – to take advantage of volcanic eruptions by declaring a nationwide “State of Exception”.

The protests have taken different forms. Indigenous people marched for 10 days from the Zamora Chinchipe province in the Amazon to Quito, 1,000s and 1,000s of people gathered in the capital last week, and another march involving approximately 2,000 people was held there on Monday. In addition, a series of demonstrations and road-blocks have sprung up elsewhere in the country. Read Article

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