The United Workers Front (FUT) and the Popular Front, which bring together a dozen civil groups, called for marches on Thursday to reject the elimination of fuel subsidies and the consequent increase in gasoline prices, as the measure will increase the cost of living.
Although the price of gasoline is 2.72 dollars at present, starting on July 11 there will be a scheme through which the price of a gallon may increase by a maximum of 5 percent or decrease by up to 10 percent monthly, depending on the international market.
FUT President José Villavicencio explained on social networks that “if gasoline (price) goes up, everything goes up.”
The protesters will reject other measures taken by President Daniel Noboa’s government, including the increase in the Value Added Tax (VAT) from 12 to 15 percent, which also influences the cost of living of Ecuadorians.
Road were blocked and tires were burned on Tuesday morning in the two main cities of the country, Quito and Guayaquil.
The president of the National Union of Educators, Andrés Quishpe, asserted that these actions were a prior to the great national mobilization on July 4, and warned that increasing the price of fuel implies “increasing the cost of living and condemning more Ecuadorians to poverty.”
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