Ecuador: Calm in Quito but Opposition Violence Lingers in Loja

With only a few hundred people maintaining a presence in Quito's El Arbolito park, stability has returned to the city, which has been the center of violent protests the past week. The political coalition United Front has classified the national strike and Indigenous uprising a failure, as it was unable to create a national work stoppage and had lower turnout than expected.

Secretary-General of the PAIS Alliance Party Doris Soliz told the press, "The Ecuadorean people turned their backs on this strike. There was no strike. This is very important to point out, for there to be a strike that means that you need to shut down factories, halt economic activities, but there was not a single strike in any factory in the country. Workers, business owners, people in the transportation sector, economic sectors did not go on strike."

Thursday’s opposition protest failed in its violent attempts to break into the Carondelet Presidential Palace in Quito, while Independence Plaza was filled with supporters of the Citizen's Revolution. Pro-government supporters from across the country have since remained in the plaza, showing their rejection of violence as well as their support for President Rafael Correa’s policies.

"My son is in university, and I have seen changes in education, in work, in everything that is infrastructure, and public works for our students. I am from a very humble community where we have seen changes, and we are very thankful to the president. That is why we are here," said Carlos Manuel Campos Aguirres, a citizen who travelled from the Guayas province to show his support for the government.

Outside of Quito pockets of violence continue. Some 600 police officers were attacked in the Southern province of Loja when trying to clear a roadblock, and 30 members of the CONAIE Indigenous movement were subsequently detained. A kidnapped police officer also escaped in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

Political analyst Isabel Ramos told teleSUR, "They want to show their political strength through violence, not through popular support, not through organization, not through legitimate forms of social protest. Social protest is profoundly democratic. But what is going on here is what actions they are taking and what interests are at play."

The opposition continues to reject calls to participate in the National Dialogue for Equality and Social Justice. This dialogue has expanded into increasingly more neighborhoods, taking over public spaces across the country. Meanwhile, the opposition is expected to continue their protests in the days to come.