Government Capitulates and Eliminates Decree 883

ECUADOR - In Brief 13 Oct 2019 by Magdalena Barreiro

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After 12 days of violent confrontations, riots and several casualties, president Moreno held a negotiation meeting with CONAIE (Confederation of Indian Nationalities) in order to seek a solution to --what was already evident --an almost insoluble problem. The meeting counted with the mediation of delegates from the United Nations and the authorities from the Catholic Church. After five hours of conversations, President Moreno agreed to eliminate Decree 883 by which the government eliminated the fuel subsidies and to form a commission to elaborate a new decree that most probably will not include the elimination of the above-mentioned subsidies. On their side, the leaders from CONAIE agreed to stop the protests. The Indigenous groups also demanded that the economic, labor, and monetary reforms be submitted to the Constitutional Court before their analysis in the Assembly to ensure they are not against constitutional mandates. This implies a further delay for their approval making it almost impossible to align times with the submission of the 2020 budget. The cease of what was very close to a civil war has been received with relief and hope by Ecuadorians. However, the evidence of national and foreign terrorist groups acting very much alike to Venezuelan and Cuban "commandos" infiltrated among the Indian groups leaves more uncertainties than only those on the economic future of the country. The offices of the Comptroller General where legal proof against Correa and many of his collaborators was in custody, was attacked and burnt. Other brutal attacks were perpetrated against Teleamazonas --one of the main TV national networks, ESPE (the military/civil University) and agai...