Guillermo Lasso extends state of emergency in Ecuador

Lasso accuses interests behind protests in Ecuador 4:31

(CNN Spanish) --

While the plenary session of the National Assembly debated Monday night decree 455 of a state of emergency for three provinces that President Guillermo Lasso signed over the weekend, the government announced that the president repealed that decree and signed a new one, decree 459, which declares a state of exception in three more provinces of the country, precisely where the largest social protests against his administration take place.

The president included the provinces of Cotopaxi, Pichincha, Imbabura, Chimborazo, Pastaza and Tungurahua in the new state of emergency decree due to “serious internal commotion”.

The objective, according to the statement issued by the Ministry of Communication, is to protect the well-being of citizens against the violent acts that have been escalating in eight days of the mobilization promoted by the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities and other social sectors.

"This declaration is given due to the violent actions that have altered public order, causing situations of manifest violence that put the safety of citizens at risk and threaten the proper functioning of strategic sectors vital to the country's economy, as well as also the possibility of radicalization of the measures by public declarations that call for indefinite non-peaceful protests,” the presidential decree document states.

Indigenous Ecuadorians march on Maldonado avenue, in the south of Quito, on June 20, 2022. (CRISTINA VEGA RHOR/AFP via Getty Images)

Despite the issuance of the new decree, this Monday the assembly continued with the session in which different legislators spoke for and against the state of emergency in the country.

The assemblyman of the Correista bloc of the Union for Hope Movement (UNES), Cristóbal Lloret, said that the repeal of decree 455 is "a prank" by the government, while the assemblyman Ana Belén Cordero stressed that there is no need to debate something that is already repealed.

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The National Police rejected the intentions to repeal the state of exception that promotes the curfew from 10:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. in the 6 provinces and the security coordination between the Armed Forces and the Police.

"It would be irresponsible to lift the state of exception, when we have a history of serious damage, and it is not that they are infiltrators, but that they are part of articulated groups, where there would be some actors who could be financing these protests," the police said.

Lasso says they want to overthrow him

On his Twitter account, President Guillermo Lasso, through a video, responded that he will not allow disorder in the protests and targeted those who, according to him, want to remove him from power.

"They seek chaos, they want to throw out the president, I am here, I am not going to escape," he said in a video he posted on that social network.

The Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (Conaie), which has been leading the national mobilization since June 13 in some provinces, demands that the government reduce fuel prices, address the problem of unemployment, regulate the prices of farm products and fight crime, among other demands.

Died during mobilizations

In the context of the demonstrations against the government, which celebrated eight days this Monday, the National Police reported on its Twitter account that, according to firefighters, three people had fallen into a ravine in a sector of Guayllabamba, about 30 kilometers north of Quito, and one of them died.

At the moment they did not offer more details.

William Lasso