Ecuador ’s New Left Shows Its True Colors

Gabriela Calderon de Burgos andDaniel RaisbeckThe president of Ecuador ’s job description could fall under temporary labor. Between 1997 and 2005, the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (Conaie) led a series of protests in the capital city of Quito that toppled three sitting presidents. In 2019, former president Lenin Moreno, who tried to get rid of a fuel subsidy and unleashed Conaie ’s wrath, decided to transfer the seat of government to the coastal city of Guayaquil as Quito came under siege. Unlike his defenestrated predecessors, Moreno managed to ensure the loyalty of the top military brass and thus save his mandate.In May of 2021, Moreno handed over power to current president Guillermo Lasso, whose government now faces a third straight week of Conaie ‐​led sabotage in Quito and much of the country, with the exception of the coastal provinces. Barely a year into his presidency, Lasso ’s political survival is now at stake.Leonidas Iza, Conaie ’s leader, is pressuring Lasso to lower the price of fuel, control prices, increase public spending, guarantee employment by fiat, and impose a debt moratorium, among other radical measures. Iza ’s tactics include blocking key roads, systematic looting, and destroying food conveyors. In the Andean highlands, scarcity of basic food and medicine supplies is now widespread. The coastal towns have had to do without the foods and crops from the highlands. Production in the Amazon ar...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs