Ecuador: Second Death Reported From National Strike

The Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of the Ecuadorian Amazon (Confeniae) denounced Tuesday night the death of Byron Guatatuca, an indigenous protester, amid police repression in the Amazonian city of Puyo, the capital of Pastaza province.

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The Confeniae said that the victim lost his life suffering a shot at close range and blamed the event on the government of Ecuador's President Guillermo Lasso. In the images disseminated on social networks, the dead young man can be seen lying on the ground with a prominent wound on his forehead and surrounded by a pool of blood.

The Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) denounced the increase in repression by the Police and the Army since President Lasso ruled the State of Exception last Friday in an attempt to put an end to the indigenous mobilization that has been going on for ten days.

According to the Alliance of Human Rights Organizations, since the beginning of the indigenous demonstrations on June 13, at least 90 people have been injured and 87 arrested. The human rights organization disseminated, through its social networks, videos and images that show the violence used by the public forces against those attending the mobilization.

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"It is worrying how military and police violence has escalated against those who exercise their right to protest and resist," warned the Alliance.

The death of this demonstrator in Pastaza adds to that of another in the Collas area, near Quito, where a young man died Monday when he fell down a hillside when a picket of agents tried to contain the entry of a group of demonstrators into the country's capital, according to human rights organizations.