Journal of Haiti and the Americas
Ecuador: “The departure of Lasso would not represent any solution”
Audio 7:30 p.m.
Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso, April 26, 2022 (Illustration image).
REUTERS - SANTIAGO ARCOS
By: Mikael Ponge
3 mins
For 12 days, Conaie, the powerful Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities has been protesting against the economic policy of the Conservative government and the rise in fuel prices.
And it takes a violent turn.
Six people have already died.
The capital is partly paralyzed.
What possible outcome?
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Thursday June 23, 2022, on the 11th day of protest, demonstrators tried to invade the parliament in Quito.
They were dispersed by tear gas fire.
Three people died during this new day of protests, which spread to other parts of the capital.
"An escalation that had not been anticipated in such proportions",
according to our guest Emmanuelle Sinardet, professor of Latin American Civilization at the University of Paris Nanterre for whom
"we are facing a personalization of tensions with President Lasso on one side and the chief of Conaie, Leonidas Iza, on the other”
.
If the conservative head of state, in power for just over a year, has said he is in favor of negotiations, the leader of the indigenous movement calls first for the lifting of the state of emergency in force. in six provinces.
"They will have to move because of the very strong pressure they are each facing,"
said Emmanuelle Sinardet.
“Leonidas Iza is beginning to be challenged within the very movement he represents and which is not at all homogeneous.
Some accuse him of being too radical and too closed to dialogue,”
explains the specialist.
If, in the past, Conaie managed to bring down three presidents,
“The departure of Guillermo Lasso would not represent any solution.
Who would replace him?
The fear is to see a much more dangerous and populist personality come to power
, ”insists Emmanuelle Sinardet.
Today, a large part of the population
"recognizes that the demands of Conaie are also demands that serve interests other than the indigenous movement, in a country weakened by the Covid pandemic and the galloping inflation caused by the current blockages
.
According to official figures, Ecuador is losing around $50 million a day due to the protests.
Firearms in the United States: the Senate advances, the Supreme Court retreats
The United States is no exception when it comes to firearms.
Yesterday morning (June 23, 2022), the nation's Supreme Court for the first time clearly affirmed that Americans have the right to carry guns outside their homes.
The six conservative justices of America's highest court struck down a New York state law that for more than a century had severely limited gun licenses.
But in the evening, the Senate passed a bipartisan bill meant to tackle the wave of gun violence facing the United States.
A bipartisan text adopted with the votes of 15 Republican senators.
He now has the chance of being validated by the House of Representatives, even if he is not as ambitious as Joe Biden would have liked.
Haiti: insecurity, cause of insomnia
According to the Ayibopost media, which consulted several psychologists, the phenomenon of insomnia due to the situation in the country is spreading more and more.
"The conflicts with the gangs which force people to move cause a situation of general stress, of which insomnia is a consequence
".
According to Ayibopost, the anxiety caused by insecurity also affects children and adolescents, which could considerably worsen their mental health.
An insecurity that also causes massive school dropouts.
According to UNICEF, 55,000 children in the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince have not returned to school since April 2022, when clashes between gangs reached unprecedented heights of violence.
And on the front page of the Journal de la 1ère
The hunt for illegal work is open in Guadeloupe.
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Ecuador
Guillermo Lasso
United States
Crime
Haiti
Health and medicine
Guadeloupe
Employment and Labor
On the same subject
Protests in Ecuador: Indigenous peoples keep pressure on the government
United States: the Senate passes a law limiting access to weapons
Haiti: at least 148 dead in clashes between gangs near Port-au-Prince