Criminalization of protest and attacks on communication in Ecuador
From the CLACSO Working Group on Communication, Cultures and PoliticsWe express our deep concern regarding the systematic violation of rights within the context of the social and political crisis in Ecuador during the 2025 national strike, which has now lasted 24 days. We urge the establishment of a public dialogue between the government and the mobilized sector, with an intercultural and rights-based approach, guaranteeing the participation of social organizations, Indigenous peoples and nationalities, community media, and academia, as well as other social actors deemed relevant to the mediation process and citizen oversight of compliance with the agreements.
Based on a joint diagnosis, we believe there is an alarming and interconnected pattern of repression, which includes:
• Implementation of a repressive policy sustained by the abuse of power and the excessive use of force by the National Police and the Armed Forces, with a balance of 3 people dead –two of them with impacts of lethal firearms-, 282 wounded, 15 temporarily disappeared and 172 documented detentions, according to the report of the Alliance for Human Rights (cut-off date 15/10/2025).
• Attacks on the press, which include 55 violations according to the Journalists Without Chains Foundation and 46 according to Fundamedios, include physical attacks - one of them with a gunshot wound -; censorship of an indigenous community media outlet, TV MICC; detention and deportation of a foreign journalist; veto of access to government press conferences; temporary internet blocking and presumed signal inhibitors in protest areas; cyberattacks on a news portal; and operational harassment through unjustified searches, detentions, confiscation of equipment and destruction or forced deletion of journalistic material.
• Intimidation through financial strangulation of social organizations and human rights defenders, including the blocking of bank accounts and operational restrictions; in addition, 68 indigenous, social and environmental leaders are being investigated for “unjustified enrichment”, with due process deficits such as late or incomplete notification, limited access to files and insufficient motivation for the measures.
This system also operates on a foundation of racism and classism that stigmatizes Indigenous peoples and nationalities, peasant communities, and popular sectors, disregarding the plurinational and intercultural character of the State (Article 1 of the Constitution of the Republic of Ecuador). We reject the repressive policies and the criminalization of protest, which violate fundamental rights: the right to life and personal integrity; the right to personal liberty and due process; the right to resistance; and, crucially, the rights to freedom of expression and communication—including access to public information, the protection of sources, and the prohibition of prior censorship. We also denounce the undermining of equality and non-discrimination and the disregard for the plurinational and intercultural character of the State, which demands strengthened guarantees for Indigenous peoples and nationalities and for community media.
These principles are recognized in the Constitution of Ecuador (arts. 1, 11, 16, 18, 20, 57, 66 and 98) and in international frameworks for the protection of freedom of expression and of the press such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (art. 19), International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (arts. 19 and 21), American Convention on Human Rights (arts. 13 and 15) and the Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression of the IACHR, as well as ILO Convention 169 (arts. 2, 6, 7 and 30) which protects indigenous peoples.
Communication, as a right and a public good, is the foundation of a democratic society, articulated through freedom of expression. Interculturalism, as a guiding principle of a plurinational state, guarantees effective political participation without discrimination.
16th October 2025
CLACSO Working Group on Communication, Cultures and Politics
This text expresses the position of the aforementioned Working Group and not necessarily that of the centers and institutions that make up the CLACSO international network, its Steering Committee or its Executive Secretariat.
