Ecuadorian

Oct. 8 (UPI) — The motorcade of President Daniel Noboa Azin came under protester attack Tuesday in central Ecuador, according to officials who are vowing to hold those responsible to account. Protesters, meanwhile, are accusing the president of inciting the violence.

Video of the incident posted to the official X account of the office of the president shows the caravan driving through a road littered with concrete rubble and lined by hundreds of masked protesters holding Ecuadorian flags and throwing rocks at the vehicles.

“No one can come and take by force the capital that belongs to all Ecuadorians,” Noboa said in a statement following the incident.

“Those who choose violence will be met by the law. Those who act like criminals will be treated as criminals.”

The incident occurred Tuesday morning in Canar Province where Noboa’s office said he was to announce development projects.

His office said the caravan had been “the target of violent attacks.”

“These cowardly acts will not halt his commitment to building a safer, stronger and more united Ecuador.”

The incident comes amid tensions between the presidency and Ecuador’s Indigenous community following the government’s discontinuation of a diesel fuel subsidy.

In response to the attack, the Governing Council of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador accused the president and his administration of antagonizing the protesters by specifically driving through what it called “a zone of resistance.”

“This incident, far from being an accident, constitutes a provocation by the national government,” it said in a statement, accusing it of using such incidents to justify its repression of protests.

“We reiterate that our mobilizations are legitimate, born from state neglect and structural exclusion. The Indigenous movement is not terrorist; it is a historic movement of struggle for life, dignity and the rights of peoples.”

There have been roadblocks and demonstrations by Indigenous and student organizations since last month when on Sept. 13 the price of a gallon of diesel fuel shot up by a dollar when the subsidies were cancel via executive decree to save the government more than $1.1 billion a year.

Mining proponents are expecting to see an increase in activity under President Noboa, a right-wing candidate who won re-election in April.

In 2024, Noboa travelled to the World Exploration and Mining Convention in Canada and signed six agreements worth $4.8bn.

And just this month, Noboa issued a presidential decree that would dissolve the Ministry of Environment and fold its duties into the Ministry of Energy and Mining.

Critics warn these developments threaten to undercut environmental causes and the right for Indigenous communities to have prior consultation before development projects.

To prevent conflicts like Rio Blanco’s, experts emphasise that implementing these rights in good faith is key. They also say communities need more resources, so that mining is not the only way out of poverty.

“These places often have no government support, leaving people to fend for themselves,” said Patricio Benalcázar, a sociology professor and mining conflict researcher at the University of Cuenca.

“The government should create programmes that improve people’s lives, provide basic utilities, schools, healthcare — and should help create other ways for people to earn money, besides mining.”

Alfaro, however, believes that communities cannot rely on the national government’s support. Activists, nonprofits, universities and others need to step in.

“Río Blanco is the best example we have of a community working together to stop a big international mining project,” he said.

“But that doesn’t mean the next steps will be easy. How do you rebuild and heal families after the industry’s damage? For a small place like Río Blanco, they can’t do it alone.”

Community members, however, are taking small steps to begin healing the rifts the mining caused.

In May, Durazno — the local leader — organised a Mother’s Day event to bring together Rio Blanco’s residents.

A mother of four herself, she felt the holiday could be unifying. Still, the attendance was not what Durazno had hoped for.

As she watched a dozen children from pro- and anti-mining families play together in a sunlit courtyard, she reflected on the toll the conflict has taken.

“It took too much to drive mining out,” she said. “People are tired and don’t want to hear about mining any more. If the company comes back, I don’t know if we’d have the strength to take them on again.”

July 21 (UPI) — Notorious Ecuadorian gang leader Jose Adolfo Macias Villamar has been extradited to the United States, where he is expected to make his first court appearance on Monday.

President Daniel Noboa of Ecuador confirmed late Sunday that Macias, leader of the Los Choneros gang and who is also known as Fito, has arrived in the United States.

“Goodbye forever, Fito,” Noboa said in a statement to social media. “Fito is now in the USA.”

The U.S. government has yet to confirm Macias’ extradition.

Macias was recaptured in late June amid a controversial crackdown on gang violence in the country, conducted by Noboa using recently acquired powers granted to him by the National Assembly to combat internal armed conflict.

Macias was serving a 34-year sentence for a slew of crimes, including murder, when he escaped from Guayaquil’s regional prison in January, as gang violence was erupting in prisons across the nation.

In response to the violence, Noboa declared the country was in the midst of an “internal armed conflict” and launched a nationwide law enforcement effort targeting drug cartels and gangs after declaring them terrorists.

Macias was then sanctioned by the U.S. State Department in February and charged in a seven-count indictment with drug trafficking-related offenses in Brooklyn, N.Y., in April.

If convicted in the United States, he faces up to life in prison.

Noboa described Macias’ extradition as validation of his crackdown that has received international criticism from human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch, over concerns that the new powers pose to the rights of Ecuadorians.

“This is thanks to you, Ecuadorians, who said yes to the referendum. I eagerly await the creative theories that will claim otherwise,” he said.