Reportage
Ecuador: in the midst of social conflict, solidarity in the "peace centers" in Quito
Audio 01:20
Protesters from the Andean peoples next to a peace zone, near the Salesian Polytechnic University in Quito, June 21, 2022. © VERONICA LOMBEIDA/AFP
Text by: RFI Follow
1 min
In Ecuador, while government and indigenous authorities fail to maintain dialogue, thousands are on the streets of Quito, coming to support the general strike.
People who come from afar, with few financial resources.
A few universities have opened their doors to accommodate these indigenous peoples and nationalities.
Places called “centers of peace”.
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With our special correspondent in Quito,
Alice Campaignolle
Some 3,500 people on average are housed in the heart of the Salesian University campus, in the center of Quito.
If some play football or cards, this space is above all a place of rest.
It must be said that the time is starting to be long.
The conflict has now lasted for
more than two weeks
.
So we get organized.
A medical center here, a nursery there to take care of the children of the demonstrators.
There is also an improvised kitchen.
“
At first, we only had small pots,
” recalls Sandra, of the Kichwa people.
The food was running out quickly and a lot of people were left without eating because there was nothing left.
Now it's better, and you see, there's a line all the time.
»
A space to be safe
For the religious, responsible for the university, this reception is a humanitarian gesture.
“
Our priority is people,
says the rector, Father Juan Cardenas
, we do not support one group or the other.
Of these thousands and thousands of people who have come to the capital to make their voices heard, imagine that they have no space to be safe.
»
A place of safety, yet last week one of the universities hosting the protesters was attacked by law enforcement, tear gas was fired into the heart of the campus.
►Also read: Ecuadorian President Lasso suspends dialogue with the natives and escapes impeachment
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