Ecuadoran President Guillermo Lasso on Tuesday accepted the resignations of four Cabinet members, the government said, just days after protests against the cost of living ended.
Ecuadoran ministers of the economy, Simon Cueva, health, Ximena Garzon, transport and public works, Marcelo Cabrera, and higher education, Alejandro Ribadeneira, have all left their posts.
Lasso thanked Cueva “for his loyal and valiant services in the exercise of his functions,” a statement from the presidency said.
Photo: Epe-efe
The statement did not give any reasons for the resignations.
A spokesperson for the Ecuadoran Ministry of Economy and Finance told reporters that Cueva had made the decision to resign “a couple of months ago.”
Lasso named businessman Pablo Arosemena, who is currently serving as governor of Guayas Province, to replace Cueva.
Ecuador was gripped by 18 days of at times violent protests led by an indigenous group that left six people dead until the government agreed last week to several demands, including a reduction in the price of fuel.
The Central Bank of Ecuador on Tuesday said that the protests cost the country at least US$1 billion.
“There is nothing more absurd than to ask, on the one hand, for more resources, for fair social care, while at the same time, attacking the source of income that meets those demands,” said Lasso at the swearing-in of his new ministers, referring to the paralysis of oil wells and pipelines due to the protests.
The agreements made with protesters, including extra financial aid for the country’s poorest people, would cost the country US$700 million a year.
These concessions come as the country is struggling with an economic crisis due to previously low oil prices — affecting one of Ecuador’s main exports — and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Oil production dropped almost by half during the protests, during which demonstrators paralyzed more than 1,000 oil wells in the country.
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