Indigenous organizations expressed their support for the protests that workers, teachers, and students are carrying out in rejection of Ecuador’s President Lenin Moreno.
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The Cotopaxi Indigenous and Farmers Movement (MICC) leader Leonidas Iza criticized the US$6.5billion loan that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) could deliver to the Ecuadorian government in exchange for the implementation of neoliberal policies, which seek to unload all the consequences of the economic crisis on the shoulders of workers.
"We do not rule out another massive uprising… the government has to listen to everyone," Iza stressed and recalled that the Indigenous movement led the October protests, which have been the most forceful actions against the Moreno administration to date.
The new protests occur amid a notable deterioration in the population's living conditions. Between December and June, the unemployment rate increased from 3.8 percent to 13.3 percent, according to the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INEC).
Currently, at least 1.8 million people are unemployed in Ecuador, 196,000 of whom are young people between the ages of 15 and 24.
"We have a high number of unemployed youth," Iza pointed out and demanded that the Moreno administration provide Internet to rural communities. This is a necessary action to guarantee access to education for children and young people when face-to-face classes have been suspended.
The MICC leader also convened the unity of social groups to confront the new wave of neoliberalism that President Moreno is promoting.