The IMF's economic stranglehold at the root of Ecuador's indigenous-led protests

In Ecuador this week, protests led by indigenous leaders have rocked Quito, the nation's capital, in response to the government's most recent slate of austerity measures that have led to a steep hike in fuel prices in an effort to repay a $4.2 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund. But David Cordero Heredia, law professor at Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador, says these latest measures barely breach the surface of a long list of indigenous peoples' grievances with Ecuador's government. "Right now, President Moreno — of all the measures he can choose to take — he is taking the recipe of the IMF. So basically, he is going to decrease taxes for the wealthy. He is going to increase gas prices by eliminating subsidies. And that is going to impact the most poor people in society," Heredia says. "And in the past, maybe 20 years ago, when we were discussing the free trade zone of the Americas, the indigenous peoples' rise and protests against that initiative… were able to stop that."

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