A peaceful protest in Cuenca

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On our walk around the city yesterday, we found ourselves in the middle of a rather large demonstration of Indigenous folks in Parque Central in front of the Province of Azuay Administrative building.

A pretty fiery speech and speaker condemned the Government for signing the oil drilling legislation, argued it was in part the fault of the USA and demanded the saving of Yasuni National Park. We understand that there were similar and larger demonstrations in other arts of the country as well.

Here is the story in brief from Ecuador Times:

Protests in defense of the Yasuni in several cities" (escrito el agosto 28, 2013 / 13:43 a las 13:43).* Hundreds of farmers and indigenous people from Azuay and Cañar, convened by the Ecuarunari, marched yesterday to defend the Yasuní with the slogan 'the water and people comes first'.*The President of the national organization, Carlos Pérez Guartambel,<br style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: normal;" />said that they expected a response from the Constitutional Court aboutthe referendum on the Yasuni, and after that they will define theagenda for demonstrations, since members of the Ecuarunari arereunited in Loja, Carchi, Cañar, Cotopaxi and Pichincha to preparenew actions.*For their part, Fernanda Carrera and Carla Chauca, accepted theinvitation of members of the Foundation 'Manos abiertas', and drew thepalms of their hands in one of the signs that was hung in the theMontalvo Park,* in front of the governorate of Tungurahua, as part ofthe activity that was held on Tuesday to defend the Yasuní.Emilia Alvarado, Executive Director of the Foundation, said that theintention is to make young people's voices heard, and show theirdiscontent over oil exploitation, to ensure the compliance of theirright to live in a healthy and ecologically balanced environmentaccording to what is determined in the Constitution.*In Quito, "Do not touch the Yasuni" or "Love life, protect theYasuni," were some of the phrases chanted by the protesters during thedemonstration that was stopped by a group of policemen who preventedthe passage of the demonstrators to the Plaza Mayor,* where dozens ofsupporters of the ruling party have gathered.The officers tried to stop the protests, throwing tear gas and verbal<br style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: normal;" />confrontations between them and the protesters were reported; thereare several detainees.

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Photos

Ecuarunari Speaker/Leader
This is a political arm of the Ecuadorian Indigenous Rights Movement

The crowd
Estimate, about 300+ people