Protests started two weeks ago when the Government announced they would no longer subsidise fuel, causing it to rise dramatically overnight and leaving thousands of Ecuadorians facing financial difficulty.
It was part of an austerity package that aimed to reduce Ecuador’s deficit but protests have led to the plan being scrapped, after talks with indigenous communities, encouraged by the UN and the Catholic Church.
In the capital, Quito, schools were closed, shops boarded up and streets blocked with burning tyres.
When people did manage to get to a shop, it has been described as ‘mayhem’.
Curfews were introduced, leaving people stuck in their homes without knowing when they would be able to go out and get more supplies.
James Freeman, a Christian who lives in Quito with his wife, told Premier he had risked going out and was then locked in a supermarket.
Speaking on Premier’s News Hour, Mr Freeman said: “Historically, for about 40 years, subsidies have been in place to basically keep the fuel prices down and over the recent years, particularly last decade, the government have noticed that annually this is something that they couldn’t keep up and it’s been costing the Ecuadorian government a lot – estimates of around $1 billion annually.
“So it was decided by the current government to withdraw the subsidies through a…
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