The Minister of Government, Zaida Rovira, said “The VAT issue -which went from 12 to 15 percent- we did not accept to put it on the dialogue table, as well as the measure taken with the elimination of the diesel subsidy.”

In a television interview, the official refused to talk on these issues, since she considers that the Executive has put “all the incentives and we have focused them on the sectors that could be harmed”.

Rovira rejected the declarations of the president of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), Marlon Vargas, about an eventual “takeover of Quito” in view of the lack of answers from the Government to the problems that have caused the protests.

“We’re not going to decline positions in terms of allowing the country to be set on fire; we’re going to be very firm in that, dialogue with all those who want to talk, but with those who want to continue sowing chaos and terror, we will be very firm”, said the minister.

For his part, Vargas made it clear that the demonstrations promoted by the organization do not seek to attack the cities, but to make visible years of abandonment, poverty and inequality in their communities.

jdt/jav/npg/avr