Ecuador: MILITARIZATION, REPRESSION, AND REBELLION IN IMBABURA

We hereby share an unofficial translation of a statement by the Defense Front of the People’s Struggles of Ecuador.

Today, October 13, 2025, marked another day of struggle.

According to government sources, over 10,000 protesters marched through the streets of Ibarra. Peasants from Cotacachi of UNORCAC (National Union of Peasant Organizations of Cotacachi), indigenous peoples organized in FICI (Indigenous and Peasant Federation of Imbabura) and other organizations, workers, and students waged unyielding rebellion and confirmed the continuation of the people’s indigenous-peasant uprising.

While the people were marching, a column of tanks escorted the Interior Minister and the Vice President from Quito to Ibarra. Once again, the fascist regime provoked the masses with a violent attack against the Karanki people. The farce of a supposed “humanitarian convoy” was immediately exposed. The military convoy supplied logistics to the cavalry barracks of La Esperanza and the Ibarra Police barracks and also transported merchandise for the monopoly chain of mini-markets, Tuti. It was all a scam!

There is no historical precedent for a military takeover like the one imposed by the Noboa government in Imbabura. They besieged the Karanki people with armored tanks, armed helicopters, special forces, troops, police, patrol cars, motorcycles, and infiltrators. It was an open declaration of war against the people.

The attack in La Esperanza was tenacious and brutal. Images were recorded of a dozen soldiers beating a peasant who was already subdued on the ground. There was indiscriminate bombardment with tear gas against the people. The army caused 19 injuries and 2 combatants of the people were captured. The hyenas of reaction expressed all the hatred and contempt they have for our people.

However, Imbabura asserts itself as a rebellious province. The muscle of this rebellion is born from the poor peasantry immersed in semi-feudalism and is strengthened by indigenous peoples, merchants, artisans, students, and workers. The main force is the poor peasantry. It is urgent to consolidate a firm and consistent leadership. That leadership can only be embodied by the proletariat and its party.

Let the government not dream of forgiveness or forgetfulness. Let the regime not believe that applying militarization against the Karanki people, it defeated the uprising. This experience forged new people’s fronts and tempered the collective spirit. We no longer depend on opportunist and traitorous leaderships; nor on electoral apparatuses that bargain and traffic with the struggles of the people. The path is clear. Persist, organize, and resist until the objectives of the people are conquered.

We will continue the uprising. Let’s open new fronts. Let’s strive for other sparks to ignite communities, neighborhoods, towns, and cities. Let’s make people’s struggle the nightmare of this criminal regime that already has a place in the toilet of history.

Daniel Noboa is a filthy fascist: criminal, liar, exploiter, and pro-imperialist. The Armed Forces and the Police are a horde of criminals without honor or glory. With their violent repression, they have constituted themselves as clear and irreconcilable enemies of the people.

LET US FUEL AND STRENGTHEN THE PEOPLE’S UPRISING!

LONG LIVE THE PEASANT STRUGGLE!

ONLY THROUGH STRUGGLE ARE RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS CONQUERED!

ORGANIZE, COMBAT, AND RESIST!