National Strike Continues to Gain Strength in Ecuador

For the fourth consecutive day, farmers, students, workers, and transporters continue to join the national strike called by the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) against President Guillermo Lasso.

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On Thursday morning, the integrated emergency service ECU911 reported that citizens have blocked roads and streets in 12 provinces. The national strike has also affected traffic to the country's main international airport located about 40 kilometers from Quito.

The government headquarters woke up surrounded by a strong deployment of soldiers and police. Meanwhile, the Lasso administration's security forces seek to contain the advance of protestors, who continue to arrive in the capital city from other provinces.

Previously, on June 14, the CONAIE president Leonidas Iza was arbitrarily detained by security forces. This arrest, however, has not been the only case of police brutality.

On Thursday, human rights defenders demanded that Lasso stop underestimating the protests and reveal the whereabouts of the detained people and the charges against them, as reported by Pichincha Communications. This petition arose after persecutions and attacks by the Police on college students in the city of Cuenca were reported on Wednesday night.

The National Union of Educators of Ecuador (UNE) also called for mobilizations in the country's 24 provinces to protest the delay in the implementation of the Intercultural Education Law (LOEI), which would allow salary improvements for teachers.

To prevent this from happening, however, President Lasso had requested a "modulation" of the Constitutional Court's ruling related to the reforms to education law.

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