Ecuador indigenous leader released from detention, protests ongoing

Ecuadorean indigenous leader Leonidas Iza has been freed from detention on a judge's order, but protest leaders said his release would not end demonstrations against the economic policies of conservative President Guillermo Lasso. Iza was released late on Tuesday after a judge in the city of Latacunga ruled he should be freed.

Ecuadorean indigenous leader Leonidas Iza has been freed from detention on a judge's order, but protest leaders said his release would not end demonstrations against the economic policies of conservative President Guillermo Lasso.

Iza was released late on Tuesday after a judge in the city of Latacunga ruled he should be freed. He was detained for about 24 hours, after the government said he lead road blockades and other allegedly violet acts which halted public services. Iza's lawyer called the detention illegal, but the government has said he will be tried.

Access roads north and south of capital Quito have been blocked since Monday by protesters demanding Lasso freeze the price of gasoline, declare a moratorium on small farmers' bank debts and limit oil and mining expansion. Demonstrators have said the protests, which have been marked by invasions of oil fields, the torching of police cars and the detention of some police by protesters, will be indefinite.

"It's not just a whim of (Iza's) to call this march. It's because Ecuadoreans feel the high cost of living," Carlos Sucuzhanay, head of indigenous organization Ecuarunari told local media. "We want the president to reorient himself to work in service of the country." CONAIE, the group lead by Iza, said on Twitter on Wednesday protests would carry on despite his liberation. Indigenous leaders in the Amazon also said they would maintain demonstrations.

"We hope rationality will be the first thing observed by protest groups, by the people who lead them and in many instances exercise the hidden violence which takes place," Interior Minister Patricio Carrillo said. At least 20 people have been detained during demonstrations.

Lasso has said he will not allow protests to affect economic recovery and any vandalism will be punished.