Political violence in Ecuador | International

“That’s old Guillermo, that’s old Guillermo”, a young man shoved the flight of a giant tooterotero. Sonia and Cristina Velázquez, mother and daughter, are blue and white. Acaba de caer un chaparrón y las mujeres apenas han logrado refugiarse bajo la marquesina de una tienda. Llevan una hora en ese esquina del historio casco de Quito, a dos calles del Palacio de Carondelet, la sede del Gobierno de Ecuador, ya cuatro del bar que abrieron hace diez años en ese barrio de oficinistas. This market has been around for a while now. Listen to the radio that the caravan of the presidential candidate Guillermo Lasso passed by allied to disperse the capital before closing the Guayaquil campaign. The domingo, the candidate for conservative, will run for the presidency in second place with Andrés Arauz, the man of the right. “Arauz is the copy of Rafael Correa”; “Arauz wants to end with the dollarization and return to sugar”; “Arauz hará fraude”; “Arauz nos convertirá en Venezuela”. Sonia and Cristina repeat as a mantra the same as the decency of Lasso’s followers who hopes in it to escape the path of the candidate conservator.

Pocas cuadras de allí, in the square near Carondelet, a group of supporters of Arauz vise orange tears and repair panflets and banners. A full color anticipation in blue letters: “Correa vuelve”. “Allí vive el traidor”, double stone Luis Kaiza, a mechanic jubilee of 80 years who works all his life in the Ministry of Public Works. And this is Gobierno’s seat, in order to make it clear that he is referring to Lenín Moreno, the current president, Dolphin’s political dolphin and the only lie. In his drawer, María Quirsimba, a housewife of 60 years, said to have voted by Arauz “because Lasso is the bank holiday”, as he lamented in March of 1999 in which hundreds of miles of Ecuadorians lost everything ahorros. Lasso was hired as Minister of the Economy in August, four months after the holiday, and his name has been linked to always having a fair share.

“Que ya viene Guillermo”, vuelven a gritar desde otro todoterreno. And this time it is true. On the beds are blue banners and trumpet music. “Viene en un Chivas Quito”, celebra Sonia, la dueña del bar que ha cerrado antes de hora. The chivas are quite their trucks with the dock open to the lads that pass through the city to the rhythm of music. Lasso is used as a foundation in a red poncho and salute with a man. Alba Vázquez is 74 years old and has been training for the belt. Hasta la quarentena contra el coronavirus vendía caramelos en la calle. “On March 26, 2020, he forbade me to go to work,” he said, with fond memories. She climbed the fence and reached the exit of the historic hull to salute Lasso. “We want to make sure that there is no more corruption, if we rob each other”, dice, referring to the ten years of Rafael Correa’s Governor. From a van the arrojan a tapabocas azul, regal of his candidate.

The Lasso caravan advances between ambulances and shops that promote their products with speakers mounted in the green. Two indigenous women, the most young with a nipple on the cleft, observed supporting the parade of the blue banners. Venden manzanas y aguacates a un dólar la bolsa. There are series. Votarán a Arauz? “The vote is secret”, responds briefly. ‘Pero mire, ni un barbijo [cubrebocas] nos han dado, nada de nada ”, se indigna la madre del niño.

In the square next to Carondelet the thing is animated. Lasso ya ha pasado y la zona queda en manos de los correístas. The probes anticipate a technical empathy between Araúz and Lasso, but at this orange point of the square there will be no doubt who will be the triumphant. “Araúz will be a good president, because he will work”, dice Marcos Picuasi, 47 years old. Offer tapabocas for a dollar, without much success.

It is the fifth of the late and in one hour the impressive colonial center of Quito will be vacated. The little ones who work in the center must read to their houses before the night, when the touch of the night will take place. Kaiza, the jubilee mechanic, is sure that everything he allows the police to do is ensure that this place is second to none. “If we escaped here from the balls”, dice. It follows in the footsteps of golf and revolutionary anecdotes. And tell the story of the president who in 1875 murmured to machetazos in this same situation the victim of the soldier who had robbed the woman. And the barber shop that works “from all walks of life” in front of the Carondelet Palace. “Allí se afeitó Richard Nixon”, asegura. And from the red alphabet that pony for the official visits, between the case of Gobierno and the Hotel Savoy, a bicentennial edition converted into offices. “Ya no quedan políticos”, he lamenta enseguida. “Now all robes, but Correa was a good person, I know him in the ministry”. El domingo, Kaiza votará a Arauz “para que vuelva Correa”.

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