Last week, thousands of people marched in several cities of Ecuador to demand that the right-wing government of Daniel Noboa repeal Decree 308, which eliminated a gasoline subsidy in the country. According to the demonstrators, the decision will provoke dangerous inflation that will increase the economic and security crisis that the country is already going through.
The protests were organized by several unions, teachers’ and students’ associations and left political parties, such as Popular Unity (Unidad Popular), Workers Revolutionary Party (Partido Revolucionario de los Trabajadores), among others. There was a small confrontation with the police in Quito and two people were arrested.
Peoples Dispatch spoke with Natasha Rojas, political analyst, social activist, and National Coordinator of Popular Unity about these protests and how the left is organizing against Noboa’s pro-business, anti-people policies.
Peoples Dispatch: Why did Popular Unity decide to take to the streets now?
Natasha Rojas: We consider that the government of President Daniel Noboa is part of the large economic and business groups of our country that seek to implement a neoliberal policy at the expense of the rights of the people of Ecuador.
It is a government that has implemented countless economic measures that make the situation of the workers more critical. A pro-imperialist government. A government that fully complies with all the prescriptions of the International Monetary Fund. A government that lies to the people.
During the electoral campaign, he told Ecuadorians that he was not going to increase the price of fuels, and then he increased the price of gasoline; during the electoral campaign he said he was not going to create more taxes or raise them, and then he increased the VAT from 12 to 15%. In addition, he said during the electoral campaign that he was going to pay the debt of the Ecuadorian Institute of Social Security, and in the economic budget of 2024 [the amount allocated has fallen short], putting at risk the health fund, the retirement fund and also the Peasant Social Security.
At the same time, he implements economic measures that benefit the large economic groups of our country. An example is the first law he sent to the National Assembly, a tax reform, in which 1.835 million dollars of debt to the state from big businessmen was eliminated. And among those monopolistic economic groups, the Noboa group, to which the president belongs, owes the state USD 88 million. Noboa has significant economic power in Ecuador, and with the political power that he now holds, he seeks to consolidate a political and economic project against the workers.
PD: What is your opinion on the agreement reached by some transporters with the Noboa government precisely to prevent many of them from joining the demonstrations?
NR: Well, the issue is much more complex. Of course, he reaches an agreement with the cab drivers’ unions and other actors. But, the increase in gasoline prices does not only affect those social groups…The concrete problem is that local fuel production in Ecuador is minimal. 35% of gasoline production is produced locally, while the remaining 65% is imported. But, in addition, we must take into account that the cost of production of a gallon of gasoline in Ecuador is 0.58 cents, and the cost of a gallon of imported gasoline is 2.71 USD. If we do some simple mathematical calculations, we can say that the cost of a gallon of oil used to be approximately 2.05 USD, which means that when it was sold at 2.46 USD; in this sense, the State was able to earn money. Now this profit is much higher thanks to the increase in the price of oil.
In addition, the increase in fuel prices will not only occur this month but, according to Decree 308, the increase will occur every month until it reaches a cost of 3 USD. In short, it is an economic measure that generates inflation, which reduces the purchasing power of the entire population. Not only cab drivers use gasoline. It is also used by farmers, small businesses, medium-sized businesses, etc. Unfortunately, the Government reaches an agreement with the cab drivers through compensation, but with the poorest, it does not reach any agreement at all. We must not forget that in Ecuador [which has a population of 18 million], seven million people live in poverty, five million Ecuadorians earn less than 3 USD a day, and two million people earn only 1.60 USD a day.
PD: So, who benefits from this measure taken by President Daniel Noboa?
NR: The large importers of fuels in Ecuador benefit. And who knows if the Noboa Corporation [a conglomerate of companies owned by the President’s family] is interested in this measure being carried out. Let’s not forget that time when the State mobilized more than 500 police and 200 military personnel to the town of Palo Quemado to defend a mining company against the local population; the President’s aunt, Isabel Noboa, has shares in that company. Let’s not forget either that the President used the power of the State (it is presumed that there was influence peddling) to benefit a company whose shareholder is his wife, Lavinia Valbonesi. Let us not forget that during the last public tender to assign a company to distribute food to schools, the company that won those tenders is one in which Isabel Noboa has an interest. That is to say, the State is at the service of the Noboa family and the economic groups that accompany him.
PD: Is that perhaps why the Noboa government insists on a measure that has provoked a massive rejection in the streets during the Moreno and Lasso governments?
NR: The national government does not care at all about the reality and situation of the Ecuadorian people. Let us not forget the high levels of poverty. This government is causing the bankruptcy of the Ecuadorian Social Security Institute. More than 200,000 children have not been admitted to schools and colleges nationwide. The health system is collapsing. It is an inhuman government. It does not care about the lives of Ecuadorians because he lives isolated from the rest of the population; he has never lived close to the reality of the people.
President Daniel Noboa, instead of worrying about the next distracting TikTok video, should be thinking about how to reactivate the productive sector, about how to solve the problems of employment, insecurity, education, health, etc. It is also important that Ecuador invests in the expansion, construction, and purchase of inputs to increase oil and energy production capacity. What recent governments have done is dismantle the energy sector in a planned manner, to claim, at a given moment, that public companies do not work and thus justify their privatization.
PD: Do you think that these protests initiated by several unions and Popular Unity will be a prolonged struggle? If so, do you believe CONAIE will join this struggle?
NR: All social, popular, leftist, democratic, progressive, patriotic, etc., organizations rejected this economic measure. Surveys indicate that more than 70% of the Ecuadorian people do not agree with the increase in gasoline prices. Several organizations are making decisions as to whether they will mobilize against Decree 308. The struggle is an organized process that starts small and grows gradually.
The main request to the Government is to repeal Decree 308 and start working on the problems that afflict the country. For example, to declare an emergency in the educational system. To declare the health system in emergency. In short, to solve the fundamental problems that the Ecuadorian people are currently experiencing.
States of emergency are not going to stop popular struggle; they are not going to stop social mobilization. The President applies the famous Shock Theory: he uses the feelings of desperation and uncertainty of the people to implement neoliberal and repressive policies against the people of Ecuador, against the social activists. Dozens of people have been prosecuted for terrorism in Palo Quemado. Why? For defending life, for defending the environment, for defending water and biodiversity.
PD: Does this mean that you suspect that Noboa’s last state of emergency decree was issued precisely to anticipate these demonstrations and to have a clearer justification for repressing the Ecuadorian people?
NR: I am sure that the state of emergency is applied to repress the Ecuadorian people because the government knows that social mobilization is coming. The Government has also demonstrated that what matters least to it is the security of Ecuadorians. When it increased the VAT from 12 to 15%, it said that the new revenue would be invested in security. Not a single cent of the revenue derived from this increase was invested in security but in the payment of the foreign debt.
