Page 12 - AT

A12 WORLD NEWS
Monday 14 october 2019
Indigenous leaders, officials head to Ecuador protest talks

By MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN streets Sunday morning
GONZALO SOLANO and thousands of people
Associated Press were out walking, driving
QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — and trying to run errands
Residents of Ecuador's like getting money from
capital picked their way cash machines.
through piles of burnt tires Moreno said his govern-
and chunks of pavement ment would address some
Sunday as the government concerns of protesters,
and indigenous protesters studying ways to ensure re-
headed to negotiations sources reach rural areas
aimed at defusing more and offering compensa-
than a week of demonstra- tion for those who lost earn-
tions that have paralyzed ings because of the recent
the nation's economy. upheaval. "We'll negotiate
Protests against a plan to with those who have decid-
remove fuel subsidies as ed to do so," Moreno said
part of an International in remarks broadcast on ra-
Monetary Fund austerity dio and television. "The pro-
package have left seven cess is moving forward and
dead and halved oil pro- Anti-government demonstrators man a barricade during clashes with the police, near the national I hope to give you good
duction, forcing Ecuador assembly building in Quito, Ecuador, Saturday, Oct. 12, 2019. news soon, because differ-
to temporarily stop ship- Associated Press ent organizations and sec-
ping its most important ex- a 24-hour curfew imposed old unemployed sign-mak- windows and setting the tors have confirmed their
port. The United Nations on Saturday, allowing peo- er, stood on a corner in the building afire. Elsewhere in willingness to talk."
and Ecuadorian Bishops' ple to move freely around Carcelen neighborhood the city, groups of masked Moreno said the masked
Conference said nego- the capital between 11 near a line of burned tires men attacked media offic- protesters had nothing to
tiations would begin at 3 a.m. and 8 p.m. daily. that blocked one of the city es, setting fires before they do with the thousands of in-
p.m. local time (4 p.m. EDT) The protests have drawn main thoroughfares on Sat- were driven off by police. digenous Ecuadorians who
between President Lenín in thousands of Ecuador- urday. Limaico said that he Lastly, across Quito, groups have protested for more
Moreno's government and ians from outside the indig- and his wife had struggled of neighbors — indigenous, than a week over a sudden
the Confederation of Indig- enous minority and many for years to feed and house white and mixed, or mestizo rise in fuel prices as part of
enous Nations, which has said they would continue their three children, ages 9 — blocked streets, burned an International Monetary
brought thousands of in- demonstrating despite the to 15, with their earnings of tires and banged pots and Fund-backed austerity
digenous protesters to the negotiations. On Sunday about $600 a month from pans to protest Moreno's package. He blamed the
capital and organized anti- afternoon, hundreds of odd jobs around northern austerity package. Others, violence on drug traffick-
austerity protests across the people defied the curfew Quito. tired of the chaos, banged ers, organized crime and
country, from the Andes and headed toward the Then, prices of food and pots and pans to protest followers of former Presi-
high sierra to the Amazon main protest site, some car- other basic goods rose the demonstrations and dent Rafael Correa, who
rainforest. rying wooden poles. Police sharply after Moreno re- call for a return to normal- has denied allegations he
The public ombudsman's let them enter the park moved fuel subsidies on ity. "Every citizen that dis- is trying to topple Moreno's
office said Sunday that sev- and surrounding area but Oct. 2. Limaico said it had agrees with government government.
en people had died in the searched people's bags become impossible to decisions can protest in Moreno served Correa as
protests, 1,340 had been and confiscated potential make ends meet, and he the right way but let's not vice president before he
hurt and 1,152 arrested. weapons. had been protesting for mix that up with vandalism become president and
The government shortened Michael Limaico, a 35-year- days with neighbors who and robbery," said James the two men went through
have blocked Diego de Baez, a 78-year-old retired a bitter split as Moreno
Thousands join protest Vazquez Avenue as it pass- employee of an American pushed to curb public
tire company. He said he debt amassed on Correa's
es through Carcelen.
called by Haiti's art "This isn't a protest of thieves, supported Moreno and the watch.
Ecuador, a former OPEC
of gangsters," he said. "This decision to impose a cur-
community is the people, and we're few. member, was left deeply in
debt by a decade of high-
On Sunday morning, sol-
fed up."
Demonstrations in Quito diers and had retaken con- spending governance and
Associated Press slogans against Moïse, took three distinct forms on trol of the epicenter of the the oil price drop. Moreno
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) expressing anger over Saturday, the most tumul- protests in Quito — the park is raising taxes, liberaliz-
— Thousands of Haitians corruption, rising inflation tuous in 10 days of protests and streets leading to the ing labor laws and cutting
have joined a protest in and a lack of basic goods against Moreno's austerity National Assembly and the public spending in order to
the capital called by the in the Western Hemisphere's measures. Thousands of in- national comptroller's of- win more than $4 billion in
art community to demand poorest country. digenous people protested fice. emergency financing from
President Jovenel Moïse "Not our president" and outside the National As- Moreno said the military the IMF.
resign, increasing pressure "We want a different Haiti," sembly in the city center. would enforce the curfew As part of that plan, More-
on the embattled leader read signs in the protest in Front-line troops of young in Quito and around criti- no eliminated subsidies on
after nearly a month Port-au-Prince. people, both whites and cal infrastructure like pow- the price of fuel on Oct.
of marches that have The demonstration comes mestizos from inside Quito er stations and hospitals in 2, driving the most popu-
shuttered schools and amid a spike in violence and indigenous from the response to the day's vio- lar variety of gasoline from
businesses. in Haiti's capital and countryside, fought police lence. It was the first such $1.85 to $2.39 a gallon and
Members of one art group surrounding communities with stones, Molotov cock- action imposed since a diesel from $1.03 to $2.30.
wore what appeared to be as protests that have tails and improvised mor- series of coups in the 1960s Panic and speculation sent
diapers on their heads and caused nearly 20 deaths tars. Several dozen broke and '70s, although there prices soaring, with costs of
held empty bowls, while and almost 200 injuries into the national comp- was little military or police some products doubling or
other protesters chanted paralyze the country.q troller office, smashing presence on most Quito more.q