CDES urges to guarantee rights “due to repeated threats by the President of Ecuador against an indigenous leader”

Given the repeated statements by President Guillermo Lasso, in which he accuses and attacks Leonidas Iza, president of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), the Center for Economic and Social Rights (CDES) urges the State to fulfill its obligation to protect the freedom of expression, association and assembly that all Ecuadorians enjoy.

The organization points out that the President’s statements “contain expressions of discredit against Iza.”

Furthermore, it observes that the aforementioned obligation to guarantee the civil rights of the population would run the risk of being violated “when officials who hold positions of high relevance in government functions utter expressions of threat, harassment or discredit against citizens. who exercise the political representation of social, political, indigenous, human rights organizations, among others ”.

Lasso, during interviews that are replicated on the Presidency’s Facebook live, has blamed Iza for the events of October 2019, despite the fact that there is still no ruling against him regarding his responsibility in the burning of the Comptroller’s Office and other crimes. In addition, he has described him as an anarchist who does not want democratic order in the country.

CDES calls on the National Government to restore democratic management mechanisms to respond to social and political opposition, and to ensure citizen participation of all Ecuadorians in conditions of freedom and equality.

CONAIE, on its Twitter account, supported the CDES statement, given the continuous statements against its president.