MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Indigenist protesters in Ecuador clash with police

Neither the states of exception nor the curfews frighten us, Marlon Vargas explained

Protesters adhering to the indefinite strike called for by the indigenist group Conaie clashed with Ecuadorian authorities Sunday in places such as Orellana, Pastaza, and Sucumbios, it was reported. It was the seventh day of nonstop activities.

Demonstrations in San Sebastian (Coca canton, Orellana province) began early Sunday, with clashes between protesters and police reported since 2 am. Law enforcement officers apparently hurled dozens of tear gas grenades against protesters, according to pictures and videos shared by Cocavisión, on its Facebook account, and the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of the Ecuadorian Amazon (Confeniae), on its social networks.

“The military attacked citizens of San Sebastián del Coca in #Orellana so that trucks could enter the oil companies. So that the Government would defend us from the delinquency that besieges the country,” Confeniae explained on social media.

The riots lasted about an hour and a half, after which the demonstrators remained on the Payamino bridge to keep the access road to the town closed. Every vehicle that tried to cross it was searched, including an ambulance with no patients. By 8 am the bridge had been freed by the authorities.

In the parish of Dayuma, also in the province of Orellana, the Waorani community of Yawepare also participated in a sit-in on the road to Pindo. Although there was a military presence in the area, the community refused to allow the generators of oil block 14 to be turned on.

By Sunday afternoon, over 100 indigenous protesters marched through the streets of Puyo (Pastaza) with Ecuadorian flags, drums, sticks, and spears chanting that “the people united will never be defeated.”

They were demanding that the government comply with the ten demands submitted by the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (Conaie). Among them was Confeniae Chief Marlon Vargas, who insisted that ”we are here to vindicate our struggle, to claim our historical struggle that has not been supported by the governments (...). Neither the states of exception nor the curfews frighten us, here we are peoples and nationalities united to say enough is enough to the national government.“

She added that they expected concrete answers from the administration of President Guillermo Lasso and that they were ready to go all the way up ”to the last consequences” if their requests are not heard.

Meanwhile, the Kichwa, Sarayaku, Puyupungu, San Bartolo and Yurak Sisa communities also joined the demonstrations and closed the road to Coca, which links the province of Sucumbíos with Orellana.