After the right-wing administration led by Daniel Noboa in Ecuador eliminated the diesel subsidies through decree 126 of 12 September, the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) decided to call for a general strike and mobilisations.

Ever since, the government’s repression and persecution of mobilised social organisations and human rights abuses have continued unabated.

The decision to call for a strike and protests by CONAIE was taken unanimously at a grassroots meeting in Riobamba on 18 September. Since then, the indigenous movement has ratified this decision twice, always with the participation of its grassroots organisations.

On 30 September, La Vía Campesina Internacional demanded an end to the repression and criminalisation by the government in Ecuador.

The diesel decree was just the final straw. CONAIE communications leader Simón Velasco explained in an interview with Real World Radio the demands they have had since the beginning of the strike, in addition to the repeal of Decree 126: the reduction of the value-added tax, which was increased months ago; the revocation of several environmental licences for extractive projects; an end to criminalisation and persecution; the implementation of government budgets, with a greater focus on health and education; the release and justice for social activists detained during the mobilisations; and justice for the murder on 28 September of farmer and indigenous leader Efraín Fuérez in the town of Cotacachi (Imbabura province) by the Armed Forces.

Velasco also told us that the accounts of several CONAIE leaders and many Ecuadorian social organisations, as well as organisations cooperating with the social movement, have been frozen.

In the same context, on Thursday, the Union of People Affected by Chevron Texaco (UDAPT – Friends of the Earth Ecuador) also denounced the illegal blocking of its bank accounts. The organisation also warned about the persecution suffered by its leaders. Moreover, Friends of the Earth Latin America and the Caribbean (ATALC) issued a statement of internationalist solidarity with the Ecuadorian people.