A Fatality and Soldiers Held Hostage in Protests in Ecuador
One person was killed and 17 soldiers taken hostage following violent clashes on Sunday between protesters and authorities in northern Ecuador.
Army forces shot “three times” at Efraín Fuérez, who later died in a hospital in Cotacachi, located about 100 kilometers north of Quito, according to CONAIE, the largest indigenous organization in the country.
Neither the police nor the Ecuadorian armed forces have commented on the incident.
Earlier this month, President Daniel Noboa announced a reduction in fuel subsidies, a measure he claimed would save the state $1.1 billion.
This decision led to an increase in diesel prices from approximately $1.80 per gallon to $2.80 (48 cents to 74 cents per liter) in a country where about a third of the population lives in poverty.
CONAIE stated: “We hold Daniel Noboa responsible and demand an immediate investigation and justice for Efraín and the people of his region,” adding that Fuérez “was a father of two and the backbone of his family.”
Images shared on social media showed two men on the ground, one apparently injured while the other tried to assist him. Moments later, soldiers emerged from an armored vehicle and began to kick them.
Another human rights organization, INREDH, was the first to announce the death, indicating that another individual sustained injuries and was still “in critical condition.”
The Ecuadorian Attorney General’s office announced it would open an investigation into the “alleged murder.”
Hours later, in the same town, the Ecuadorian armed forces accused the protesters of injuring 12 soldiers and taking 17 others hostage. They reported on X (formerly Twitter) that the soldiers “were escorting a convoy of food supplies” and “were ambushed violently by terrorist groups that infiltrated Cotacachi.”
Accompanying the post were images of bloodied soldiers and a video showing one of them facing dozens of attackers, some armed with sticks, as he was heard saying, “Don’t hit me.”
Ecuadorian Interior Minister Zaida Rovira stated on X that “what happened in Cotacachi was not a demonstration; it was a cowardly ambush carried out by criminal-terrorist groups that attacked our armed forces.”
Noboa has been striving to quell the protests, declaring a state of emergency on September 16 in eight of the country’s 24 provinces and imposing a nightly curfew in five of them. He accused the “Los Choneros” gang of orchestrating the protests and warned that demonstrators violating the law “will face terrorism charges and will be imprisoned for 30 years.”
CONAIE, which called for an open national strike, has led violent protests that have toppled three presidents between 1997 and 2005.
Indigenous people make up around eight percent of Ecuador’s population of 17 million, according to the latest census.
Community leaders indicate that the actual percentage is closer to 25 percent.
