Ecuadorian president Correa has had an unprecedented 84% approval rating in his country until recently.  He has improved education on many fronts, reduced crime in every category, improved infrastructure, and generally been a very positive, and thus popular, president.  With his political party having an overwhelming majority in Congress, he can push through almost any new law he wishes.  Unfortunately, he is also seen as brash and egocentric, and has often been accused of feeling that he alone, knows what is best for the country.  As a result, he tried to push through several unpopular laws earlier this year, and his popularity has fallen below 50% for the first time since he was elected in 2007.

For the past couple weeks, some groups have warned there would be general strike today. This would centered in the three largest cities of Quito, Guayaquil, and here in Cuenca. Protests have always been peaceful in the past few years in Cuenca, so I decided to go see for myself.

What I observed was a peaceful march through the streets of Cuenca Centro.  While protesters carried banners and shouted slogans, police maintained a loose barricade to clear all traffic on their route, and to assure that no trouble occurred. Though there were reports of small problems after dark, I did not witness any trouble at all.

Parque Calderon is in the center of Cuenca Centro, and is always an active place.  Today, the government set up booths from apparently every ministry in the government, where people could get information on what help the government could provide. The “Cocinas de Induccion” booth in the middle-left image above, was giving people information on how to convert their kitchen cook tops from propane to electricity, and explaining the subsidies that are available to help the poor make the change.  Other booths were similarly helping Ecudorians understand the importance of their environment, how the new 911 system works, and even teaching children to play chess.  There was also a stage on the corner of the park for musicians, but there weren’t any playing in the couple of hours I spent there.

Hornado, or roasted pig, is a favorite Ecuadorian lunch meal, and booths were set up for that too.  People crowded the food booths, where I had a large pig lunch with more food than I could eat — for $3.00.  There were also some teenage boys practicing break-dancing in the rotunda. Parents took turns handing their children to the mounted police (lower right image), so they could take photographs of their kids on horseback.

Overall, the atmosphere was more like a festival than a protest, which is clearly what the government wanted to project.

Here is a short clip showing the marchers going down a street in Centro.