As political scientist Pablo Ospina argued, the diesel subsidy was a way of sustaining the competitiveness of Ecuadorian production. The country is a major oil producer but without this incentive, says Ospina, consumers will depend even more on imported products, such as shoes from Brazil, Peruvian meat and Argentine milk.

How did the protests start?

Before the announcement of Moreno’s austerity measures, the union of taxi drivers and bus drivers declared a strike, which lasted a few days. The mobilisation of trade unions attracted the support of students and the opposition of the government, which caused a wave of social protests.

The confirmation of the measures caused the protests to gain strength among various social sectors, especially with indigenous communities. Community members marched from their territories to the capital to protest and pressure the president’s government to withdraw or renegotiate several of the economic adjustments, and to maintain the state fuel subsidy.

In recent days, thousands of protesters took to the streets of Quito and other cities. Multiple marches of indigenous people converged in the capital, and hundreds stormed the National Assembly courtyards on Tuesday the 8th until they were evicted by the police. Protesters demand that the government back down with the "paquetazo" (this what the package of measures is commonly referred as), and in particular in its decision to end fuel subsidies.

Government allies, including the mainstream media, are using the resistance of the indigenous people to criminalize them and transform them into the responsible party for this widespread crisis that is affecting all of Ecuador. It is an abusive and racist attitude that reaches scandalous dimensions. The background of the indigenous protests has its roots on the fight against agressive extractivism that has been depleting their land with oil drilling, mining, logging.

The security forces, which were reinforced and reassembled considerably under the previous government of Correa, are specially instructed to prevent the indigenous people from entering various public places, by using even unrestricted violence. "They are treated as if they were not Ecuadorian citizens, but part of an extra-terrestrial invasion," Ecuadorian social rights activist Juana Francis Bone said at an emergency meeting held on Tuesday (9th) with several members of the Political Innovation Network in Latin America.

In addition to the police reinforcement, which includes exoskeletons for officers, last April the current government launched a surveillance system, called ECU-911, which was largely manufactured by two Chinese companies, the state-owned CEIEC and Huawei. The system has 4,700 cameras, installed by Chinese workers who relocated to the country, according to the New York Times, and they could now be used to identify and incriminate protesters.

Correa and Venezuela

The Correa factor (former president of Ecuador, who had Moreno as vice president) plays an important role in the crisis. When the protest broke out, he expressed his strong criticisms from Brussels, where he currently resides for family reasons and to protect himself from Ecuadorian law enforcement, who accuse him of corruption. Rafael Correa strongly supported the candidacy of Lenin Moreno, whom he planned to monitor, which undoubtedly helped him reach the presidency in 2017.

But once in power, Moreno distanced himself from his predecessor which resulted in a personal confrontation between the two, in which Correa even tweeted that Moreno was a “traitor”. In the same tweet Correa said that Moreno “is finished” and said he supports the idea of new elections. In the following days Correa said that he would be willing to run as candidate.

In turn, Moreno counterattacked, accusing Correa of ​​orchestrating a coup d'etat using the mobilization of some social sectors, especially the indigenous. In addition, Moreno even said this week in a national statement that Correa is working in collusion with Venezuela.

"The looting, vandalism and violence show that there is an organized political intention to destabilize the Government and break the constituted order, break the democratic order," he said in a video. “Do you think it is a coincidence that Correa, Patiño, and others have travelled to Venezuela? […] they are planning a coup d'etat from there”.