After riots that left President Rafael Correa gasping for breath, police in Ecuador faced their bonus cuts today without protest, Reuters reports.
The country's recent rebellions were partly blamed on a new law ending promotion bonuses for police officers and soldiers. It also means no more gifts at Christmastime.
The law was passed yesterday and officially expected to start today.
In the country over the weekend, soldiers patrolled the streets in armored vehicles, the wire reported.
"Everything seems to be returning to normal," police spokesman Richard Ramirez told Reuters.
Are you in the country? Tell your experiences in the comments below.
Sour
Photo: Getty
I live in Quito, and it's just too depressing to discuss. I will say, though, that today's newspapers all say that the government will change the public service law so that the police can keep their "condecoraciones", and further, the government will increase the pay of the police and the military. Finally, the government says this has nothing to do with the events of last Thursday...
ReplyDeletelm writing from Ecuador. After the thursday, government is looking after the main responsibles for the uprising: several people have been put in prison.
ReplyDeleteOn the other side, opposition leaders are in denial: they say there was no kidnapping, since the President was issuing decrees, ordering military decissions, and so on...
Nonetheless the law has already been aproved, the Assembly has shown interest in changing the law to give policemen more peace of mind.
Finally, policemen in charge of the Assembly and President security have been changed for militar troops.
I can see there will be more unrest during the following weeks, but its unlikely to occur a new police-strike.
l assume the country is now ready for tourism.
FYI for all, I'm on twitter at @Tambopaxi. I left a bunch of updates there last night.
ReplyDeleteHi, j_major, long time no chat!
I believe kidnapping question is still open. No one really understands how Correa ended up in the Police Hospital, but it may well be that he stumbled literally into the hands of the cops after his amazing, and extremely ill-advised, arrival at the HQ of the police strikers. Not surprisingly, he was attacked by the mob after insulting and threatening the strikers (his usual style) and his security detail essentially came apart on him.
Thereafter (on Thursday, that is) Correa's actions belie those of a kidhapped person; he gave at least two radio interviews, received several cabinet officers, was at his window waving to followers, press, etc.; not the actions of a person held in bondage, if you will..
Finally, as I say on twitter, the Army's on the streets and yesterday, in my neighborhood (Benalcazar) there were two tanquetas out on a main artery (Shyris) for about two hours in the afternoon. A bit disconcerting to see them. On the other hand, as my computer tech noted, it slowed the speeding traffic down a bit, so that's a plus...