President Lenin Moreno has moved his administration out of the capital, alleging he is the target of a coup attempt.
He said growing unrest in the capital over his plans to end fuel subsidies has seen the government face security threats and it will therefore operate from the port city of Guayaquil, instead of Quito, the capital.
He’s accused his predecessor and one-time mentor Rafael Correa of stoking the worst unrest in years in the Andean oil producing nation.
Otavalo indigenous anti-government demonstrators arrive to join other indigenous groups to protest against President Lenin Moreno’s economic policies on October 8, 2019
Ecuadoran President Lenin Moreno (centre) speaking in a national radio and television network broadcast in Guayaquil on October 7 as his nation’s capital is rocked by angry protests
In recent days, protests over his decision to bring an end to fuel subsidies have erupted across the country – prompting his accusations today that the former president was trying to to overthrow him with help from Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro.
For a sixth day thousands of indigenous protesters marched into the capital after Moreno announced the measure to eliminate fuel subsidies, subsequently pushing prices up, in order to reduce the nation’s fiscal deficit.
A national strike is also planned for Wednesday.
But despite, the growing unrest, Moreno so far has the military’s support and isn’t backing down from his decision to cut fuel subsidies, causing hikes in fuel prices. The unrest has spread from transport workers to indigenous demonstrators.
In a defiant national television address on Monday evening, Moreno, who has left the capital Quito, said he would not back down on the fuel price hike in the face of what he called a ‘destabilisation plan’.
The recent wave of protests in the capital of Quito comes in the wake of a number of new austerity measures imposed by the Government of Ecuadorian president Lenin Moreno
Ecuadorian military stand guard at the Puente de la Unidad Nacional (National Unity Bridge) in Guayaquil on October 08, 2019, following days of protests against the sharp rise in fuel prices sparked by authorities’ decision to scrap subsidies
The President says his predecessor is trying to destabilise the nation with the help of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
Ecuador is among dozens of nations calling for Maduro’s ouster.
However, Correa denied on Tuesday he was orchestrating a coup against the government from his self-imposed exile in Belgium.
‘They are such liars … They say I am so powerful that with an iPhone from Brussels I could lead the protests,’ he said.
Correa denied on Tuesday he was orchestrating a coup against the government from his self-imposed exile in Belgium
The former president of Ecuador said austerity measures imposed by the South American nation’s leader is what has forced people to take to the streets in protest
‘People couldn’t take it anymore, that’s the reality,’ he said, referring to austerity measures brought in by Moreno with support from the IMF.
Moreno, who once saw his predecessor as a mentor, has in recent times abandoned the leftist policies of Correa’s time as president from 2007 to 2017, a rare period of stability for a country accustomed to political turmoil but which ended in corruption allegations and a rise in Ecuador’s external debt.
Correa, who lives with his wife in a small town south of Brussels, has fiercely criticized Moreno’s shift to the right, including with a video circulating on social media where he sings ‘Ecuadoreans, to the streets … Goodbye, Lenin!’
He reiterated that view on Tuesday, saying that ‘the government has already fallen’ and that he did not expect Moreno, who is in the southern port city of Guayaquil, to be able to return to Quito to govern while the protests continue.
‘Why don’t they announce early elections,’ he said, calling on Ecuadoreans to exercise the right to resist what he called government oppression.
Protesters in Quito on Monday protect themselves from tear gas and hold up a banner which translated to English says ‘Out Lenin’
In an interview with Reuters Correa said he would be ready to return to his country if new elections were called and potentially run as a candidate for vice president
Sitting in an empty office with an Ecuadorean flag and his official photograph as president, Correa said he would be ready to return, possibly as a candidate for vice president, if new elections were called.
‘If it’s necessary, I will go back. I would have to be a candidate for something, for example, vice president,’ said Correa, who said he earns a living in Brussels partly consulting for the Venezuela government and interviews for Russia’s RT channel, which is backed by the Russian state.
‘From there, we would need a constituent assembly,’ he said, although he declined to give details about any future government policies. ‘This isn’t my plan, I am obliged to do this.’
He also denied any direct links to Venezuela’s Maduro, who France, the United States and several Latin American nations accuse of installing a dictatorship as a political and economic crisis deepens in Venezuela.
But he also accused the United States and the European Union of hypocrisy for imposing economic sanctions on the Maduro government, which stands accused of rights abuses.
‘They have a criminal blockade (against Venezuela). They must lift it.’
Rafael Correa has also denied any direct links to Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro (pictured above) who France, the United States and several Latin American nations accuse of installing a dictatorship
Correa, who said he was working on five different books, defended his decision to live in his wife’s native Belgium after leaving office in 2017. He said that it was right that after 26 years living as a couple in Ecuador, they spend time in Belgium.
But he also acknowledged he faced 29 different charges against him, from corruption to misuse of power, in Ecuador, and that he would not go back unless the political situation changed because he said he would not be given a fair hearing.
‘I have to prepare my legal case. They have asked Interpol to raise a red alert and capture me, I had to hire a lawyer … it is an enormous task. In the last few years, I’ve worked just to pay lawyers.’