At the beginning of October, the people of Ecuador rioted after President Lenín Moreno signed a deal that would ultimately hurt the middle class. After multiple weeks of protests, Moreno repealed the deal.
According to International Business Times, the deal was with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) designed to make Ecuador more attractive to foreign investors. Named Decree 883, the deal took away from fuel subsidies and resulted in a higher cost of fuel. Along with the end of the subsidies, Decree 883 also made public companies private, reduced public debt and included labor and tax reforms. But for the working class, the biggest issue with this deal was the end of fuel subsidies. While the government would have saved $1.2 billion, citizens would suffer economically.
Protesters took to the streets. Witnesses sent videos to the media and reported citizens destroying government property, as well as police beating protestors to the ground. Starting Oct. 8, a citywide curfew from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. was established in the capital.
On Oct. 14, Moreno repealed Decree 883. By Oct. 16, eight people had been reported dead, 1,340 wounded and 1,192 arrested for protesting. Following the repeal of Decree 883, the government under Moreno began arresting the leaders of the revolt, including elected government officials.
And while Moreno hasn’t completely abandoned the ideas within Decree 883, the two sides have agreed to work together to restore Ecuador with a new set of measures to cut spending costs and reduce the nation’s debt.
In a statement Oct. 16, the IMF said, “We will continue to work closely with the authorities to identify, in the context of the current program, the best way in which the Fund can provide financial and technical support to Ecuador in the period ahead to ensure fiscal sustainability and help improve the prospects of all Ecuadorians.”
