Ecuador: President Guillermo Lasso under the shadow of impeachment

At press time, the president of Ecuador, the right-wing William Lasso Yesterday he was facing a debate in his country’s Congress to vote for his dismissal due to the “internal commotion” left by thirteen days of bloody indigenous protests against the high cost of living.

The virtual session of the plenary session began around 6:00 p.m. local (11:00 p.m. GMT) before the call of the third part of the National Assembly that sees in the president the cause of the “serious political crisis and internal commotion” that the country is experiencing.

Impeachment requires 92 of the 137 possible votes in the Congress in which the opposition is a majority, but it is scattered.

Lasso must be summoned to the afternoon session to defend himself and in his presence a debate will be opened, the duration of which will be determined by the president of the Legislature.

Once the discussion is over, the deputies have a maximum of 72 hours to decide on the request for separation from the presidential position.

If approved, Vice President Alfredo Borrero assumes office and presidential and legislative elections are called for the rest of the period.

Meanwhile, the protests continue to shake Ecuador, especially Quito, where some 10,000 indigenous people from their territories are marching through different parts of the capital shouting “Lasso out, out!”

Rivers of indignant people with red ponchos, sticks and handmade shields demand a reduction in the price of fuel among other measures to alleviate the poverty of their peoples. They leave behind barricades with trunks and burnt tires in a semi-paralyzed and exhausted city.

The 47 members of the Union for Hope (Unes) bench, related to the former socialist president Rafael Correa (2007-2017), they requested on Friday the departure from power of the current president, a former right-wing banker who took office in May 2021.

Former socialist president Rafael Correa asked Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso on Saturday to call early elections, at a time when he is facing strong protests from indigenous people and the possibility that Congress may dismiss him at the request of Correismo.

“President Lasso, don’t be a coward. Call early elections. I did it in 2009 and I received the support of my people,” Correa said in a video posted on his Twitter account.

The Magna Carta empowers the president to dissolve the National Assembly for reasons such as “serious political crisis and internal commotion”, after which the Electoral Council must call presidential and legislative elections to complete the current democratic period (until 2025).

The former socialist ruler (2007-2017) has lived in Belgium since he left power and cannot participate in elections because he was sentenced in absentia to eight years in prison for corruption.

Isolated by covid, Lasso attacked the leader of the demonstrations, Leonidas Iza, president of the powerful Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities (Conaie).

“Mr. Iza’s real intention is to overthrow the government (…) he has no control over the demonstrations or the criminality that his irresponsible actions have generated,” Lasso declared.

To the cry of “Lasso, out, Lasso” and “Lasso assassin”, about a thousand women marched down one of the main avenues of the capital in protest also at the police action against the demonstrations, which have already left five dead and some 200 injured, according to reports from human rights organizations.

The mobilization was led by indigenous women, including the vice president of the Confederation of Peoples of the Kichwa Nationality of Ecuador (Ecuarunari), Nayra Chalán, who told EFE that what they are doing is “supporting the popular cry.”

Source-larepublica.pe