Ecuador: Leonidas Iza, president of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities, arrested for "presumed commission of crimes" during mobilization

Indigenous leader denies intention to destabilize the Government 1:23

(CNN Spanish) --

The Ecuadorian Police reported through Twitter that they arrested Leonidas Iza, president of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities (Conaie), for presumption of committing crimes and said that he is in a temporary detention room for a flagrancy qualification hearing.

President Guillermo Lasso announced this Tuesday, also through Twitter, the beginning of the arrests of those he described as "material and intellectual authors of violent acts" during the national mobilization day convened by Conaie this Monday, without explicitly naming Iza .

• “We cannot make violence and insecurity a political issue, the enemy is not one politician or another.

  The enemy is the violent”, assures Guillermo Lasso to José Levy

“Respecting the law is a fundamental principle of coexistence in a democracy, which is why the arrest of the material and intellectual authors of violent acts has begun.

Now it's up to the Prosecutor's Office and the Judiciary to act, because no one is above the law," Lasso said from the Government Palace.

Iza's arrest was also reported by Conaie itself from its Twitter account, with a video broadcast on social networks in which the leader of the indigenous organization was seen being introduced to a vehicle by Police agents.

According to the Conaie publication, those who participated in the arrest were elite groups of the Police and Armed Forces.

"We call on our organizational structure to radicalize the de facto measures for the freedom of our maximum leader and for the dignity of our struggle," the indigenous organization wrote.

advertising

Conaie considers Iza's detention illegal and considers that it does not comply with due process.

Lenin Sarzosa, Leonidas Iza's lawyer, wrote that the arrest of his client is illegal because he did not have a judge's order, there is no police report and in a public statement he reported that Iza was transferred to the flagrante delicto unit in Quito.

Iza led the protests that began this Monday in Ecuador, which included several road closures, and called on the government to meet their economic and social demands or, otherwise, the stoppage could continue.

The mobilization continues with some roadblocks in the country and the entrance to the capital.

According to Conaie, the mobilization could continue if the government does not heed their requests.

Conaie demands to reduce fuel prices, address the unemployment problem, regulate the prices of farm products and combat crime and insecurity, among other requests.

• With road closures, a day of mobilization called by the indigenous sector begins in Ecuador

President Lasso said that Ecuadorians cannot be victims of those he described as "vandals" who want to cause chaos.

"My obligation as president is to guarantee Ecuadorian families the possibility of moving freely," added the president.

On Monday night, from the unified command post in Quito, several government authorities presented a balance of the day of national mobilization.

According to the Minister of the Interior, Patricio Carrillo, during the afternoon violent acts were identified among the demonstrators and he mentioned that there had been a "kidnapping" for a few hours of members of the National Police in Saraguro, who were later released, and that in In the province of Cotopaxi, there was an attempt to intimidate flower and broccoli producers who did not want to be part of the protests.

A group of women marches in support of women's rights as part of a national mobilization against the Ecuadorian government, in Quito, on June 13, 2022. (Photo by VERÓNICA LOMBEIDA/AFP via Getty Images)

Carrillo also denounced that seven ambulances did not arrive with medical assistance and the transfer of people to hospitals.

"Here there is a hidden violence that must be made visible and stopped," said the minister.

On the morning of this Monday, 20 closed roads were reported in Ecuador, according to what the Police reported to CNN, and most were opened after a process of dialogue with the protesters.

According to the Minister of the Interior, 90% of the country's road network is open.

The general commander of the Ecuadorian National Police, Fausto Salinas, said that the "progressive use of force protocols" will be used in the event that the demonstrators incur acts of violence or vandalism.

For his part, the general director of the Integrated Security Service ECU 91, Juan Zapata, told CNN that it is inevitable that the population will feel the effects of a day of mobilization and that the main impact will be economic, by hindering passage on several roads. .

Zapata emphasized that the closures are sanctioned by law.

Guillermo LassoProtests