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Ecuador’s Noboa faces escalating protests over rise in diesel costs
The diesel price hike from $1.80 to $2.80 per gallon sparked nationwide strikes led by CONAIE, causing injuries, over 100 arrests, and one protester death, officials said.
- On Sunday, Oct. 5, 2025, nationwide protests intensified as nearly three weeks of strikes by bus drivers and roadblocks by farmers pressured President Daniel Noboa, with CONAIE mobilizing supporters.
- After Noboa's September 12 decree, diesel subsidy ended, raising diesel to $2.80 from $1.80 per gallon, hitting agriculture, fishing and transport sectors hardest.
- Security forces, including up to 5,000 troops, were deployed to the capital after Noboa declared a 60-day state of emergency and more than 100 people were arrested following violent clashes that left one protester dead last week.
- Pachakutik's internal split widened when it expelled six legislators, reducing its bench to three lawmakers, while CONAIE called an extraordinary Riobamba assembly and Interior Minister Zaida Rovira insisted Tuesday the government will not reverse its decision.
- CONAIE's past uprisings in 2019 and 2022 show that protests cost $1.1 billion and experts warn unrest could worsen if it spreads to the capital.
32 Articles
32 Articles
Analysis by Ana María Cañizares, CNN en Español Ecuador is facing its third week of mobilizations and protests in various parts of the country's highlands amid a highly polarized environment with no way out in sight. Dialogue is lacking, and President Daniel Noboa has become the target of social unrest among a portion of the population following his decision to eliminate the diesel subsidy and his refusal to back down.
Ecuador's president, Marlon Vargas, called on 3,000 soldiers to contain a protest against the rising price of diesel led by the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities, which threatens to occupy Quito.
Diesel Subsidy Cut Sparks Ecuador’s Nationwide Indigenous Strike
Ecuador stunned its own citizens on September 12 by hiking diesel from $1.80 to $2.80 per gallon. The sudden end to a subsidy that once cost over $1 billion a year ignited an “immediate and indefinite” national strike led by Conaie, the Indigenous confederation representing 16 nationalities. Conaie argues that higher fuel costs will ripple […]
Transporters started blockades in several provinces, while Noboa's government defends that the decision will fund social programs
Conaie rejects the end of the diesel subsidy and calls for an indefinite national strike. Noboa's government decrees a state of emergency in seven provinces.
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