A protester was killed and 17 soldiers taken hostage during demonstrations in northern Ecuador Sunday, according to accounts from both sides of the clash, as tensions flared over a sharp rise in fuel prices.
The country’s largest Indigenous rights organization — known by its acronym Conaie — had called for an indefinite national strike to oppose right-wing President Daniel Noboa’s move to slash fuel subsidies, which drove up the price of diesel from $1.80 to $2.80 per gallon (48 cents to 74 cents per liter).
Conaie said Indigenous community member Efrain Fuerez, 46, was “shot three times” and died in hospital in Cotacachi, around 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of Quito.
Ecuador’s police and armed forces have not commented on the allegation.
A video shared by Conaie on X show a group of soldiers kicking two men on the ground, one apparently injured and the other trying to help him.
“We hold Daniel Noboa responsible, we demand an immediate investigation and justice for Efrain and his community,” the group said.
Later that day, the Ecuadoran armed forces in the same city accused protesters of injuring 12 soldiers and holding 17 others hostage.
The soldiers were “guarding a food convoy” and were “violently ambushed by terrorist groups that had infiltrated in Cotacachi,” the military wrote on X.
The post also included images of bloodied soldiers and a video of a uniformed man being surrounded and attacked by more than a dozen people, some wielding sticks.
“Don’t hit me,” he could be heard saying.
Government minister Zaida Rovira called the incident a “cowardly ambush carried out by criminal groups — terrorists — that attacked our Armed Forces.”
Noboa has battled to address the protests, declaring on September 16 a state of emergency in eight of the country’s 24 provinces, and a nighttime curfew in five of them.
He has claimed that Venezuelan criminal gang Tren de Aragua was behind the demonstrations and warned that protesters who break the law “will be charged with terrorism and will go to prison for 30 years.”
Conaie led violent demonstrations that overthrew three presidents between 1997 and 2005.
Protesters have challenged Mr. Noboa’s administration by blocking roads, as well as directly confronting the authorities.
Dozens have been detained.
Human rights group INREDH condemned the “lethal and illegitimate use of force” in the Fuerez case.
Ecuador’s prosecutors’ office said it would open an investigation into the “alleged death.”
Indigenous people represent almost eight percent of Ecuador’s 17 million inhabitants, according to the latest census.
Community leaders say that number far underestimates their share of the population, maintaining that the true figure is closer to 25%.
Published – September 29, 2025 09:58 pm IST
