(Bloomberg) — President Daniel Noboa declared a state of emergency in nearly half of Ecuador’s provinces after an Indigenous leader threatened to bring protests against diesel subsidy cuts to the capital.
In a statement late Saturday, Noboa’s office said restrictions will be imposed on 10 of the Andean nation’s 24 provinces so that “public order, internal security and the well-being of the people are safeguarded.”
Ecuador’s constitutional court annulled an earlier state of emergency in five of seven provinces on Friday. And in his presidential decree, Noboa cited comments last week by Marlon Vargas, president of umbrella Indigenous group Conaie, as one of the reason for the latest crackdown.
“If the government ignores us, I believe we will be convinced to take Quito,” Vargas is reported as saying in the decree.
Conaie called a national strike against the subsidy cuts last month and has mounted protests, blocking roads, disrupting flower exports and prompting sporadic clashes with security forces. The demonstrations have been mostly limited to Imbabura province in the north, where one person was allegedly shot by authorities and a group of soldiers was kidnapped and beaten before being released.
Under the state of emergency, the right to public assembly is suspended and public gatherings that could disrupt essential services or put safety at risk are prohibited. Police and the military are authorized to intervene as necessary to break up such gatherings.
Bond investors are betting that, unlike his predecessors, Noboa will be able to stay the course on subsidy cuts. Similar attempts to cancel the stipends, which cost the country $1.4 billion last year, were met with widespread, violent protests, forcing the governments of former presidents Lenin Moreno and Guillermo Lasso to back down.
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