Pronouncement

The social sciences and humanities cannot remain indifferent to the crisis Ecuador is experiencing due to the government's imposition of IMF-backed measures. It is therefore essential to emphasize the unsustainability of the neoliberal globalization model and its severe impacts on social, economic, environmental, and health matters, as well as on gender-based violence, citizen insecurity, and human rights violations.

Faced with this situation, the Ecuadorian people have decided to support the strike and the massive and unified popular mobilization at the national level, led by the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador and which today has the integration of several indigenous, peasant, women, youth and student organizations.

Instead of addressing the legitimate demands of the mobilized people, the government of Guillermo Lasso has chosen to implement repressive police and military tactics. Citizens have witnessed the excessive use of force against children, women, young people, and other participants in the protests, which has already resulted in the deaths of several citizens. False accusations equating social movements with organized crime are also unacceptable. It is deplorable to see that the National Police have proven far more effective at attacking the people than at resolving the prison crisis or containing drug trafficking networks.

In this vein of abuses, the illegal and arbitrary detention of Indigenous leader Leónidas Iza cannot be ignored. Equally reprehensible is the raid and military occupation of the Ecuadorian House of Culture. Finally, there is the government's issuance of two decrees imposing a State of Emergency as a strategy to contain the mobilizations in six provinces and the legitimization of the use of force by the police and military.

The solidarity shown by higher education institutions, such as the University of Cuenca, which organized a march in support of the people's legitimacy to exercise their constitutional right to social protest, is noteworthy. Likewise, it is vital to publicly acknowledge the decisions of the Salesian Polytechnic University and the Central University of Ecuador to serve as Centers of Support and Humanitarian Assistance for our brothers and sisters in the Indigenous movement.

In this context, researchers associated with CLACSO member centers in Ecuador make the following statement:

• That the government of Guillermo Lasso address the 10 demands proposed by CONAIE and other social organizations.
• We condemn all forms of repression and violence.
• Demilitarize the House of Culture and El Arbolito Park, symbolic spaces of resistance for the popular sectors of Ecuador.
• The repeal of the state of emergency as a prerequisite for dialogue with the political will to reach concrete agreements.
• We urge universities and research centers to open their doors to welcome and shelter the protesters.

Our support and solidarity with indigenous, peasant, women's, youth, feminist, environmental, student, and workers' organizations that exercise our legitimate right to protest.

Researchers associated with CLACSO in Ecuador

[+] Latin American and Caribbean Front
in the struggle for democracy and the people