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Ecuador Protests Shut Major Oilfield During State of Emergency

(Bloomberg) -- Rioters attacked a major oil production facility, a major dairy, dozens of rose plantations and burned police and military vehicles as Ecuador struggled to enforce a four-day-old state of emergency imposed after President Lenin Moreno scrapped fuel subsidies.In the oil-producing Amazon region, demonstrators entered facilities of the Sacha oilfield, prompting authorities to shut down production there and causing the loss of 70,000 of Ecuador’s 550,000 barrel-a-day oil output.Parts of central Ecuador again were cut off from television and radio service as demonstrators seized repeater antennas. Indigenous communities continue to block numerous main roads in the Andean region, home to half the nation’s 17 million residents. Cuenca, the third-largest city, is receiving supplies by air.Umbrella indigenous organization CONAIE distanced itself from violence, which it blamed on infiltrators. Ecuador’s Business Committee recommended mediation by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference to resolve the crisis triggered by the elimination of gasoline and fuel subsidies that largely benefit higher-income Ecuadorians and cost close to $1.4 billion annually.“The U.S. is monitoring recent developments in Ecuador carefully. We reject violence as a form of political protest,” Michael Kozak, acting assistant secretary for the Western Hemisphere at the State Department, said via Twitter.Presidential Secretary Juan Sebastian Roldan blamed the unprecedented violence, which has led to nearly 500 arrests, on supporters of former President Rafael Correa, who faces arraignment in absentia on corruption charges in the coming days.“Crimes are being committed, and everything that will happen is the exclusive responsibility of political leaders who are now heating up the situation,” the presidential secretary told reporters before they were ordered to leave the presidential palace for security reasons.On social networks, residents of Quito called for a demonstration on a major avenue to demand respect for the country’s democracy. “The goal to destabilize is cleared than ever,” Interior Minister Maria Paula Romo said on Twitter.To contact the reporter on this story: Stephan Kueffner in Quito at [email protected] contact the editors responsible for this story: Daniel Cancel at [email protected], Robert JamesonFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P. Read More...

(Bloomberg) — Rioters attacked a major oil production facility, a major dairy, dozens of rose plantations and burned police and military vehicles as Ecuador struggled to enforce a four-day-old state of emergency imposed after President Lenin Moreno scrapped fuel subsidies.

In the oil-producing Amazon region, demonstrators entered facilities of the Sacha oilfield, prompting authorities to shut down production there and causing the loss of 70,000 of Ecuador’s 550,000 barrel-a-day oil output.

Parts of central Ecuador again were cut off from television and radio service as demonstrators seized repeater antennas. Indigenous communities continue to block numerous main roads in the Andean region, home to half the nation’s 17 million residents. Cuenca, the third-largest city, is receiving supplies by air.

Umbrella indigenous organization CONAIE distanced itself from violence, which it blamed on infiltrators. Ecuador’s Business Committee recommended mediation by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference to resolve the crisis triggered by the elimination of gasoline and fuel subsidies that largely benefit higher-income Ecuadorians and cost close to $1.4 billion annually.

“The U.S. is monitoring recent developments in Ecuador carefully. We reject violence as a form of political protest,” Michael Kozak, acting assistant secretary for the Western Hemisphere at the State Department, said via Twitter.

Presidential Secretary Juan Sebastian Roldan blamed the unprecedented violence, which has led to nearly 500 arrests, on supporters of former President Rafael Correa, who faces arraignment in absentia on corruption charges in the coming days.

“Crimes are being committed, and everything that will happen is the exclusive responsibility of political leaders who are now heating up the situation,” the presidential secretary told reporters before they were ordered to leave the presidential palace for security reasons.

On social networks, residents of Quito called for a demonstration on a major avenue to demand respect for the country’s democracy. “The goal to destabilize is cleared than ever,” Interior Minister Maria Paula Romo said on Twitter.

To contact the reporter on this story: Stephan Kueffner in Quito at [email protected]

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Daniel Cancel at [email protected], Robert Jameson

<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com” data-reactid=”21″>For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.

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