The right to protest in Ecuador is absolutely granted

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/27/the-right-to-protest-in-ecuador-is-absolutely-granted

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Your article (Protests by 1,000s of Ecuadorians meet with brutal repression 19 August, theguardian.com) omits the fundamental fact that the minority sectors of the population, exercising their right to protest, have resorted to violence in their aim to see the president removed and, as a result, 115 policemen, to date, have been injured, many seriously, with pellets, molotov cocktails, fireworks, spears, chains, sticks and stones.

The role of the police forces has been mainly to repel attacks and avoid confrontation, with unprecedented levels of tolerance. Your article endorses one version of the events, where the aggressors claim the role of victims.

The article leads one to conclude that the indigenous movements and the workers’ unions are all against the government of President Rafael Correa; the reality is that some sectors of these groups are in opposition, while the majority of them fully support the policies of the government, given that over the last eight years Ecuador has become a world leader in the reduction of poverty and our indigenous communities have benefited the most. That is why the current government has comprehensively won 10 consecutive elections, including in the majority of the indigenous constituencies.

The article does not mention either that these minority groups have aligned themselves with the powerful old elite who have sparked a wave of protests over opposition to the government’s plans to increase taxes on the wealthy. Their demands are quite different to those described in your article and are based on a reluctance to losing long-held privileges.

The motives behind the “State of exception” declared in response to the potential eruption of Cotopaxi, one of the highest volcanos in the world, are far from the sinister political reasons cited. The State of exception simply reflects the fact that the technical forecast indicates that, in the case of an eruption, most of the country would be affected, with pyrotechnical material and damaging floods. The decree enables the government to use emergency financial resources in case of a natural catastrophe. It does not restrict any rights of organisation, protest or information, with the sole exception of information related to the volcano.

The right to protest is absolutely granted in Ecuador. Likewise, the rights of the majority of the population to have a democratically elected government implementing the economic and social model of their choice need to be protected despite the violence of the protesters and despite the biased reporting that often attacks progressive governments in Latin America.Carlos AbadAmbassador of Ecuador to the UK