Weekly Report - 06 January 2022 (WR-22-01)

Ecuador’s President Guillermo Lasso launched an unreserved attack on the leader of the umbrella indigenous organisation Confederación de Nacionalidades Indígenas del Ecuador (Conaie), Leonidas Iza, on 4 January. Lasso branded Iza an “enemy of democracy” and accused him of seeking to “topple the government”. He also urged him to “grow up politically”. Lasso’s censure followed Iza’s renewed call for an indefinite mobilisation this month over fuel prices and the Lasso administration’s economic policies. It also comes after the Conaie leadership called for legislative deputies representing Pachakutik (PK), the indigenous group’s political arm, to face indigenous justice for cooperating with the Lasso administration.