Thousands of indigenous protesters left the Ecuadorian capital on Thursday night after its leaders and the government signed a deal that would reduce fuel costs and end cost-of-living protests that have largely paralyzed the country for 18 consecutive days.
The agreement, negotiated through the Catholic Church and signed in Quito, provides for a reduction of US$0. 05 equivalent to the gallon in the value of diesel and gasoline in addition to a REDUCTION of US$0. 10 already granted by the government.
“Chances are we’re tired . . . so it’s time to move home,” protest leader Leonidas Iza told a crowd of about 4,000 protesters after announcing the end of the previous day’s protests.
Photo: AFP
Protesters peacefully left the city in buses and trucks, many waving multicolored Ecuadorian and indigenous Wiphala flags.
Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso, for his part, wrote on Twitter that the parties had achieved “the ideal to which we all aspire: peace in our country. “
Later, in a radio and television broadcast, he said that it is “time to heal the wounds, triumph the department among Ecuadorians and unite with a single objective: to rebuild Ecuador. “
Rising fuel costs were the catalyst for protests called through the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities (CONAIE) and marked with burning roadblocks and violent clashes with security forces.
Five civilians and one soldier have been killed since the protests began on June 3, many have been injured on both sides and around 150 more people have been arrested.
Signed by CONAIE leader Iza and Ecuadorian government minister Francisco Jimenez, the agreement provides for new negotiations between the two sides, an end to the disruptive roadblocks erected in the country and the lifting of the state of emergency in four of Ecuador’s 24 provinces.
The agreement would also provide for a revision of government decrees on oil and mining exploitation on indigenous lands.
An estimated 14,000 Ecuadorians, most commonly in Quito, participated in the massive demonstration of discontent over the deepening difficulties in an economy hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Thursday’s agreement provides for “the cessation of the mobilizations and the slow return [of the demonstrators] to the territories” from where they arrived to sign up for the protest.
In a statement, the UN in Ecuador celebrated the end of the protests and said promises of peace were imperative to “combat polarization and exclusion and move toward reconciliation. “