Oct 11, 2019

Riots persist in Ecuador after president ends fuel subsidy

Dave Lawler

Riot police, protesters and smoke in Quito. Photo: Martin Bernetti/AFP via Getty

Violent protests continued in Ecuador today, 2 days after President Lenín Moreno fled the capital and moved government operations to a port city.

Driving the news: Moreno is standing by the policy that sparked the unrest — the termination of a popular, but costly fuel subsidy.

  • "In one chaotic scene, protesters swarmed onto the top of a riot control vehicle that stopped in an alley. They pounded on its armored plating and reinforced windows with clubs and stones until the occupants accelerated away through clouds of smoke and tear gas," AP reports.
  • "Moreno knew his decision — by presidential decree — would provoke outrage. No previous government had dared to do it," per the Economist, which contends the step was necessary due to IMF terms and economic mismanagement by Moreno's populist predecessor, Rafael Correa.
  • Correa on Thursday denied he's planning a coup from self-imposed exile in Belgium.

What to watch: Only 2 Ecuadorian presidents have completed full, 4-year terms over the past 27 years. Two others have been toppled by riots.

Go deeper: Ecuador's gas price protests show why it's hard to phase out fuel subsidies

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Jacob Knutson

Ecuador’s president agrees not to slash fuel subsidies amid deadly protests

Protestors in Quito on Oct. 7. Photo: Cristina Vega/AFP via Getty Images

Ecuador's President Lenín Moreno said on Sunday that his administration would agree not to terminate the country's fuel subsidies and sit for talks with indigenous groups, in an effort to end deadly protests that had roiled the country, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Why it matters: Thousands of Ecuadorians, set off by Moreno's announcement that he would end a 4-decade-old, $1.4 billion-per-year fuel subsidy, have been protesting for almost 2 weeks, clashing with police, ransacking government buildings and looting businesses. Confrontations between demonstrators and state security forces have resulted in 7 deaths, 1,300 injured and 1,152 arrests.

Go deeper: Ecuador’s president flees the capital amid protests

Keep ReadingArrowOct 14, 2019
Dion Rabouin

Capital markets feel the global protest wave

A doll effigy of Chilean President Sebastián Piñera. Photo: Cristóbal Venegas/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Violent protests in Chile, an OECD member long known as Latin America's slow, steady and stable credit, continued for the sixth night in a row Wednesday.

Why it matters: Markets are responding much more quickly to the state of unrest, with Chile's capital markets already pricing in negative outcomes.

Go deeperArrowOct 24, 2019
Kendall Baker

Houston shortstop Carlos Correa called game

The Astros and Yankees went toe-to-toe late into the night before Houston shortstop Carlos Correa ended it with a no-doubt dinger on the first pitch in the bottom of the 11th. American League Conference Series is tied 1-1.

Fun fact: Correa is the 2nd player in MLB postseason history with multiple walk-off hits against the same opponent. The other is David Ortiz, who did it in consecutive games against the Yankees in the 2004 ALCS.

Go deeper: Axios Sports gathers all the good videos, GIFs and photos of Correa's blast in 1 Twitter thread.

Keep ReadingArrowOct 14, 2019