Development: On 14 September Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa called on his supporters to prepare to offer “resistance” to the demonstrations planned by government opponents this week.
Significance: Correa’s call will fan tensions in Ecuador, which has become increasingly polarised this year following the mass demonstrations staged by local workers’ unions and indigenous groups against various recent government initiatives. These demos are seen as the biggest political challenge to the Correa government to date. President Correa's response - to rally supporters to stage counter-demos - has resulted in clashes taking place in the streets. At times these have produced violence - as was evident most recently last month in Quito.
- Correa took to Twitter to rally his supporters ahead of the national demonstrations called by the Coordinadora Unitaria de Trabajadores, Indígenas, Campesinos y Organizaciones Populares de Pichincha (Cutcop) protest group for tomorrow (16 September). “Happy week everyone. This week, the usual individuals will return with their assemblies, marches, strikes… attacking democracy and the rights of the majority. We will have to exercise our right to resist these extremely violent and absolute minorities”, Correa said before calling on his supporters to help “protect our roads, public and private property, our right to work and mobility”. This was a reference to the road blocks typically erected by demonstrators as well as to any potential attack on government buildings in the event of confrontation with the police.
- Despite Correa’s incendiary remarks, Cutcop ratified its plan to hold a national protest day tomorrow. In a statement, Cutcop again called on all workers’ and social organisations to join their demonstrations in all the country's provinces in “rejection of government policies”. Cutcop coordinator, Edwin Bedoya, in particular said the protest action was against the “unpopular policies” such as the government’s ‘water law’ and the constitutional reform that among other things would allow for indefinite presidential re-election, which is currently being debated by the national legislative assembly.
- Bedoya added that Cutcop is also demanding the immediate release of all the protesters “unjustly detained during the protests held back in August”. Dozens of individuals were detained by the police during violent clashes last month. Many were subsequently released but some remain in custody and government opponents maintain that this is part of strategy to repress the protest movement.
Looking Ahead: With the Cutcop demo set to go ahead and Correa rallying his supporters, the fear is that tomorrow’s demos may again end in violence.
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