Ecuador protests: President imposes curfew amid worsening violence

Parts of Quito have descended into chaos after more than a week of clashes between demonstrators and riot police. Mr Moreno said the protesters, who are led by indigenous groups, had agreed to direct talks for the first time.

They are demanding the return of fuel subsidies, scrapped by the government as part of a package of austerity measures. Some have called for the resignation of the president, who has declared a two-month national emergency.

Earlier on Saturday, protesters attacked a television station and newspaper office in Quito. The Teleamazonas channel broadcast pictures of its broken windows and a burning vehicle. El Comercio newspaper tweeted that a "group of unknowns" had attacked its offices. No injuries were reported in either incident.

Elsewhere, masked men threw petrol bombs at a government building in Quito housing the comptroller general's office and then overran it.

Protests began after the government announced an end to fuel subsidies as part of public spending cuts agreed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in return for a loan. The deal reached in March will allow Ecuador to borrow $4.2bn (£3.4bn).

Mr Moreno has said the fuel subsidies, introduced in the 1970s with an annual cost of $1.3bn, were no longer affordable. Eliminating them is part of his plan to shore up Ecuador's flagging economy and ease its debt burden.

The fuel subsidies had become an entitlement.

Entitlements are forever.

It’s why entitlements in the U.S. will NEVER be taken away. It’s also why no new entitlements should ever be implemented.

This crap is mostly going on in Quito and near the Colombian border. I live on the central coast and while there have been a few demonstrations, the main impact here has been the bus strike which I think may be over here.

The fuel subsidies were ridiculous and needed to be removed but It was stupid to remove them all at once. Incremental raises would have been tolerated better.

I’m beginning to think that Moreno is right that the previous President Correa is interfering with this. Correa is living in Belgium now and can’t return because Moreno will arrest him. It was generally understood that Moreno would do one term and then Correa would come back. Correa is an outright socialist, was buddies with Chavez and Castro, and while educated in US, was playing the anti US role even though Obama was in office. Correa did improve the country’s infrastructure albeit through loans and good deals with China. that and the drop in oil prices have led to the debt.

Of course who knows who the bad guys really are. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised to hearthe name Soros kicked around but this place doesn’t rate the attention that Nancy Pelosi gets.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.