By Alexandra Valencia
QUITO (Reuters) – Demonstrators in Ecuador on Tuesday protested against the economic policies of conservative President Guillermo Lasso days after he raised gasoline prices, with road blockades taking place in some parts of the country.
Lasso, an ex-banker who took office in May, last week scrapped planned incremental rises in gasoline charges meant to eventually align with international costs following pressure by indigenous and other organizations.
He opted instead to raise the price of gasoline extra to a fixed $2.55 a gallon and diesel to $1.90 a gallon.
But unions and other groups want Lasso to freeze prices for gasoline extra, the country’s most-used fuel, and diesel at lower rates and to exempt all sectors hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic from the increases.
Lasso is already negotiating a potential compensation scheme with the trucking industry.
Gasoline costs have risen significantly since Lasso’s predecessor Lenin Moreno began monthly increases in May 2020.
Traffic in capital Quito was normal early on Tuesday. Major unions have urged their members to march beginning at 4 p.m. local time.
In other areas, including on the highway which connects Quito to the country’s north, sections of road were blocked with earth and trees.
Roads in various Andean provinces were closed, emergency services ECU 911 said, while indigenous organization CONFENIAE said some roadways in the country’s Amazon region had been shuttered from the early morning.
“In a betrayal, (he) increases the price of fuel,” Leonidas Iza, president of the Ecuador Confederation of Indigenous Nations (CONAIE), told local radio. “We cannot be in agreement that amid such a profound crisis, coming out of a pandemic, they raise prices.”
Lasso said on Monday road blockades are against the law and security forces will impose order.
(Reporting by Alexandra Valencia; additional reporting by Tito Correa; Writing by Julia Symmes Cobb; Editing by Rosalba O’Brien)
