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Ecuador Declares State of Emergency as Fuel Protests Block Roads

Reuters

   QUITO - Ecuador's President Lenin Moreno declared a state of emergency
   Thursday as protests broke out nationwide over the end of decades-old
   fuel subsidies as part of a $2 billion government fiscal reform
   package.

   "Down with the package!" protesters shouted, referring to measures
   enacted this week as Moreno sets the Andean oil producer on a centrist
   path after years of leftist rule.

   With the fuel measure taking effect Thursday, taxi, bus and truck
   drivers blocked streets in the highland capital Quito and in Guayaquil
   on the Pacific coast, while bus stations were closed. Indigenous
   groups, students and unions joined the action, blocking roads with
   rocks and burning tires.

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