Shooting at feet.
The situation in Cotacachi is even more hopeless than before. After the terrible violence in our neighboring town of Otavalo on Wednesday, leaving more dead and injured, a dialogue was invoked and agreements were reached. But the basis of the communities did not agree with their leaders and kept the barricades up. They said that their main demands weren’t even discussed. Sunday, the government declared that they would not stay in the dialogue anymore, as the communities were changing participants and did not comply with the agreements, mainly lifting the blockades.
The leadership in the communities seems to have done some big mistakes. The biggest one was probably thinking that the same method that was used in 2019 and 2022 and many times in between for short periods would work again. The government lead them from one trap to the next, and they willingly jumped in.
The incapability of "leaders" on both sides of the conflict is saddening. The government is acting with repression. The various organizations enacting the strikes not only lack the capacity of adapting their strategy to react properly towards what the government is doing, but are actively antagonizing the bigger part of the population, all while not being able to admit defeat nor control their base. But let’s start at the beginning. This is more or less the road map that the president used, allegedly, of course:
- Raise the diesel prices to provoke the strike.
- Provoke violence by using highly repressive tactics from day one, to generate pictures that seemingly justify the label “terrorist.”
- Show strength by breaking through the blockades with the military convoys, falsely labeled “humanitarian”, creating more images to follow the narrative of “terrorists.”
- Leaving the province abandoned for two weeks while instigating with social media and waiting for the aggression to turn inwards, causing further division between the communities, as well as those for and those against the strike.
- During those weeks, having many intents to dialogue fail for numerous pretenses, with both sides always blaming the other.
- Using a heavily armed “humanitarian” convoy with the narrative of liberating the province, with advanced notice to give time to prepare heavy resistance, and create images that are similar to war.
- Entering a dialogue, rashly declaring an agreement to control the narrative, without respecting the due process on the other side.
- As the rashly declared agreement is not uphold as the due process failed, as expected, call off the dialogue.
- Yeah, well. “We tried with words. They don’t want to listen. Now we have to.”
It’s a great playbook. If it was one, who knows, maybe it was al genuine and the president had good intentions – I’m generally biased against political authorities, and then also, everyone thinks they’re doing right. The civil organizations (CO) lost all credibility by now. And for good reason, they failed spectacularly, shooting themselves in the feet so often that it's a miracle that they're still standing. It's a shame that they failed, as a lot of what is coming, the real resistance is needed. A smart resistance. A resistance aware of the changes of time, aware of how the rules of the game have shifted in the last 6 years.
They’re not credible because they’re using the same instruments that the state is using. Threats, violence, control, restriction of freedom. They’re not offering a better world, they’re offering “Animal Farm”. I laid that out before.
The CO lost. I can’t see them winning going on like this. How many more have to get hurt? How many more have to die? Yes, the government is using excessive force, as is to be expected (at least by me, again, biased by experience). But there is just no way left to win this with what they call “resistance”, but at this point of time sounds like a euphemism for stubbornness. Another incapacity – that of admitting that they lost. Retreat, regroup, and find a new way.
A way of real resistance. I really hope they’re brave enough to go that road. It doesn’t look like it. It looks like they want the government to come in hot, so they can keep their face, victimize themselves and create more martyrs. The tried that on Wednesday, having the dialogue, coming to terms - but they couldn't make their base agree.
Everyone went rogue now, and that is dangerous.
Related posts
Community
How it works - the network in action
Sin Miedo - Psychological help
Political Background
Diesel to the fire - the current situation in Ecuador
Eye by eye, we're blind - about the tensions in Cotacachi
It makes me sad to read what happened in the last weeks. Still thank you for the first-hand information.
Thank you. One of the problems is that it's mainly Imbabura. The rest of Ecuador is calm. The movement does not have enough pull to get it done, but it seems like they don't want to accept that.
Other provinces might be feared by the military action. From here it looks like a war against indigenes. There are not many news about it in Germany, just some travel warning. Ecuador bad, Galapagos good. I really hope it calms down. Want to visit a beautiful country again some day, not a battlefield.
Ja, mein Bruder war auch einigermaßen überrascht als er ankam und sich des Ausmaßes bewusst wurde. Er ist mit einem windigen Reiseführer 15 Stunden über die Küste gefahren, um von Quito nach Cotacachi zu kommen - normalerweise 2 Stunden Fahrt.
Die Reisewarnung ist glaube ich schon seit 5 Jahren aktiv, eher durch die Drogenkriminalität - eine ganz andere Geschichte, dass plötzlich 7000 Militärs zur Vergügung stehen um sich hier zu prügeln, aber in den Städten machen sie so gut wie nichts. Aber auch das ist gewollte. Erwähne ich glaube ich in dem "Eye for Eye" post, oder dem "Diesel to the fire".
Das ist natürlich auch ne Art, das Land kennenzulernen. 🙃
Die Drogenkriminialität wäre auch mal eine Sache, die man mit so vielen Soldaten angehen könnte aber das haben auch schon andere Länder nicht geschafft. Nur wenn der Gegener nicht so viele Waffen hat, ist es eben leichter. Echt traurig, sich so profilieren zu müssen. Leider scheint der soziale Weg gerade überall auf dem Rückzu zu sein.
Ich drücke euch, dir und den Leuten der Bächerei, die Daumen, dass zumindest bei euch alles friedlich bleibt. Und dass Ecuador wieder das wundervolle Land wird, das ich in Erinnerung habe.
Danke dir! Wir kriegen das schon hin... Haben ja schon einiges hier durchgemacht, und den Spieß doch irgendwie wieder umgedreht und was bessers geschaffen.