The FUT, which brings together various unions, will offer a press conference this Wednesday to announce its position regarding the measure, which according to the Executive, will come into force in the last week of June.
Other social and political organizations have expressed their rejection of what they consider a new “package” from the administration of President Daniel Noboa.
The legislative bench of the Citizen Revolution movement (RC in Spanish) issued a statement explaining that the increase in fuel prices is “to comply to the letter with the commitments contemplated in the agreement with the International Monetary Fund”. The RC warned that the increase in gasoline will negatively impact the cost of living, making the economic situation of those, who have the least, even more difficult, in the context of increasing unemployment and poverty.
Vice Minister of Economy Ana Cristina Avilés justified yesterday the elimination of subsidies by stating that this benefit is “inequitable and inefficient” and that it encourages illicit activities, such as drug trafficking, illegal mining, and smuggling. She also said that there should be a “monthly stabilization mechanism” through which the gallon of fuel price may rise by a maximum of five percent or fall to 10 percent, depending on the variation in the international value of oil and fuels.
Minister of Transportation and Public Works Roberto Luque reported that they have agreed a monetary compensation with the transporters, to cushion the price increase.
Last week, in Quito, there was a mobilization, convened by the Popular Front, unions, and students, against what they also consider a neoliberal policy agreed with the IMF that impoverishes and makes the lives of all people more expensive.
In October 2019 and in June 2022, Ecuadorian social organizations, indigenous people, workers, students, and various sectors took to the streets to express their rejection of the neoliberal agenda of the then presidents Lenín Moreno and Guillermo Lasso, who also sought to eliminate fuel subsidies.
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