Tens of thousands of protesters descended on Ecuador's capital Wednesday, as unrest sparked by rising gasoline prices continued to metastasize into chaos and violence that seemed to threaten the presidency of Lenin Moreno.
With one death, more than 700 arrests and millions in property damage, Moreno, 66, had fled the capital and was blaming his political rivals and Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro for the discontent.
On Wednesday, Ecuador's Interior Minister Maria Paula Romo said many of the country's main roads remained closed but that the initial wave of marches had been peaceful. And while she acknowledged that there were legitimate protests taking place in the country, she said the marches had been "infiltrated" by agitators who were trying to topple the president.
During a news conference, Defense Minister Oswaldo Jarrin said "criminal elements" were using the marches as cover to loot, destroy property and commit acts of "terrorism" aimed at destabilizing the country.
Authorities said they had closed a road into Guayaquil to keep what they called "violent groups" from descending on the city.
Protests began gathering steam last week when Moreno announced that he was eliminating a four-decade old fuel subsidy that he said was costing the nation $1.4 billion a year. On Monday the protests turned violent amid clashes with the police in the historic center of Quito, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Protesters have also tried to seize power plants, congress, and other government offices.
Amid the growing anger, Moreno took the unprecedented step of moving the seat of government to Guayaquil _ a coastal city more than 150 miles from Quito. In addition, he has declared a state of emergency and implemented a curfew.
During an interview late Tuesday, Moreno reiterated his claims that the protests had been co-opted by political actors with outside help. In particular, he said that former President Rafael Correa, his bitter political enemy, had met with Maduro recently in Caracas.
In Venezuela "they set the stage for how to agitate the country," he said, without offering any proof. "They know how to steal and kill without anyone realizing it."
He also said that an attack on the Comptroller and Attorney General's Office was planned as a way to destroy corruption evidence the government was collecting against Correa and members of his Cabinet.
Correa and Venezuelan officials have denied any involvement and say the protests are a genuine reaction to Moreno's decision to adopt austerity measures as he pursues a loan agreement with the International Monetary Fund.
"No one is destabilizing Lenin Moreno but himself," Correa told reporters in Brussels, where he has been living since 2017 when he left office.
He also said that Moreno should hold new elections, offering to run "if it was necessary" _ even though he's not eligible for reelection.
Ecuador has a long history of political instability. From 1997 to 2005 the country burned through seven presidents as waves of protests drove them out of office. Correa _ who ran the country from 2005 to 2017 _ brought a degree of stability even as he was accused of increasingly authoritarian practices.
Moreno came to office in 2017 as Correa's handpicked successor but quickly turned on his boss, reinstating term limits, pursuing corruption charges against him and embracing business-friendly policies that many have seen as a betrayal.
Moreno also accuses his predecessor of leaving the nation deep in debt and has said the austerity measures are needed to revive the economy.
The National Indigenous Confederation of Ecuador, or CONAIE, called the economic measures "brutal" and had called for a national strike Wednesday. The socially and politically powerful group has been key to ousting presidents in the past and has said it won't quit protesting _ or begin talks with the government _ until the fuel subsidies are reinstated.
"The state-sponsored and imperial violence will not silence the people," the CONAIE said on Twitter, as thousands of its members were marching through the capital.
It also accused Moreno and others of using the specter of Venezuelan meddling to discredit their legitimate grievances.
But others aren't so sure. Carlos Vecchio, Venezuela's ambassador to the United States and a representative of anti-Maduro forces, said he had "not a gram of doubt" that Venezuela and Cuba were behind the unrest in Ecuador.
He said Maduro's predecessor, Hugo Chavez, had financed Correa's presidential campaign and those of other leftist leaders in the region. Maduro and Chavez have also been accused of providing support to leftist rebels of neighboring Colombia. And now that Cuba has become a central piece of Maduro's security apparatus, helping keep him in power, the island "is using Venezuela to generate instability in the region and continue it's project of expansion and control," Vecchio said. "This isn't new."
Colombia's ambassador to the United States, Francisco Santos, also said he believed that Venezuela and Cuba were trying to muddy the waters in Ecuador.
"This is a very classic Cuban move of sending cells to create havoc to create all that kind of chaos which is needed to create the uncertainty in the countries," he said. "I don't have proof, but it will come out, believe me."
