QUITO: Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa escaped unharmed after his motorcade was targeted by stone-hurling protesters and what one minister described as a volley of gunshots Tuesday.
Noboa was inaugurating a water treatment plant in central Ecuador when his motorcade was set on by a large group protesting rising fuel prices.
“About 500 people showed up and were throwing stones at him, and there are obviously bullet marks on the president’s car as well,” said Environment Minister Ines Manzano.
She said that five people were arrested and would stand trial on terrorism charges – an offense carrying a maximum punishment of 30 years behind bars.
“This kind of protests, which are not peaceful, are not what we need,” Manzano added.
Video released by the government, reportedly filmed from inside the motorcade, shows protesters standing in the road, draped in flags, scrambling to collect large stones and bricks.
As the presidential SUV passed, projectiles thudded into the paneling and shattered windows.
A voice can be heard shouting, “Heads down! Heads down!” as the vehicle sped away.
Officials said they were still investigating whether some of the impact marks on Noboa’s armored Chevrolet Suburban were caused by gunfire.
‘War policy’
The attack came amid days of increasingly violent demonstrations sparked by a government decision to raise diesel prices.
Protesters have gone on strike, blocked roads and abducted 16 soldiers – who were eventually released unharmed.
Ecuador’s largest Indigenous organization reported on Sunday that a protester had been killed by armed forces during one of the rallies.
Between protesters and security services, more than 100 people are believed to have been injured in the unrest.
Noboa has declared a state of emergency across several provinces.
The Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador said that the president’s convoy had “entered a resistance zone,” leading to “incidents that the government now uses to justify its war policy.”
The organization called to “resolve the crisis with justice and respect.”
Noboa’s office said on social media following the attack that “cowardly acts will not deter” the president.
The presidency shared messages of solidarity from the foreign ministries of Panama and Costa Rica, with condemnations also flowing in from other governments in the region, including Peru and Bolivia.
The recently re-elected president is trying to cut diesel subsidies to save about $1 billion in government spending, diverting much of the savings to security funding.
Ecuador, once considered one of Latin America’s safest nations, has seen a dramatic surge in violence in recent years.
Strategically located between Colombia and Peru – two of the world’s largest cocaine producers – Ecuador has become a major transit hub for narcotics.
Authorities have accused drug gangs of fueling the unrest, suggesting that criminal groups are exploiting the protests to destabilize the country.
It is estimated that 70 percent of the world’s cocaine supply passes through the country, much of it destined for the United States.
The trade has attracted international criminal organizations, including Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel, Italy’s ‘Ndrangheta, and Albania’s mafia.
Their competition for control of trafficking routes has turned Ecuador into one of the region’s most dangerous places.
Noboa has called for a referendum to allow the return of US troops to the country, repealing a 2009 ban on foreign bases.
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Ecuador president unharmed in attack on motorcade
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Ecuador president unharmed in attack on motorcade
- President Daniel Noboa was inaugurating a water treatment plant in central Ecuador when his motorcade was set on
- Attack came amid days of increasingly violent demonstrations sparked by a government decision to raise diesel prices
Corruption scandal, court battles pose test for Ukraine’s Zelensky
- Justice Minister German Galushchenko, a former energy minister, was suspended Wednesday after being caught up in an investigation
KYIV: A major corruption scandal and mounting accusations that the Ukrainian presidency is using the judiciary to intimidate and silence critics has rocked Kyiv, presenting a significant test for Volodymyr Zelensky almost four years into the Russian invasion.
Justice Minister German Galushchenko, a former energy minister, was suspended Wednesday after being caught up in an investigation into one of Zelensky’s top allies, who is accused of orchestrating a $100-million scheme to secure kickbacks from the power sector.
While Galushchenko denies any wrongdoing, the scandal has sparked anger as Ukraine’s electricity grid is creaking under a barrage of attacks from Russia as the country heads into winter.
These challenges come at a critical time for Zelensky, who has remained popular and largely unchallenged since Russia invaded in 2022, with Moscow’s forces advancing in the east.
It also shows how strained the tightrope that Ukraine has been forced to walk – between centralising power to run the war, and forging on with democratic reforms key to joining the EU – is becoming.
The latest case to trigger accusations that Zelensky’s team are weaponizing the judicial system to intimidate critics was last month’s arrest of Volodymyr Kudrytsky, who led national energy company Ukrenergo until 2024, on embezzlement accusations.
Kudrytsky and his backers reject the claims as retribution for criticizing Ukraine’s strategy to defend the energy grid from Russian attacks.
“It’s purely political. It couldn’t happen without the involvement of the presidential office,” Kudrytsky, currently on bail, said, saying that he was being lined up as a scapegoat.
The authorities want to “demonstrate what will happen if you comment on sensitive matters,” he added, pointing to his strained ties with the country’s leadership.
‘Something they don’t like’
Kudrytsky has won some high-profile supporters.
Business ombudsman Roman Waschuk said the evidence “appears quite flimsy” and warned against “targeting people for simply performing their normal corporate functions.”
Opposition lawmaker Inna Sovsun said it was part of a strategy of using criminal investigations to silence people.
“So you know there is a case against you, and they will try to use it if you do something they don’t like,” she said.
Asked by AFP about the case last week, Zelensky said it was a question for the judiciary but that Kudrytsky “was a chief of a big system, and that system had to secure our energy. He had to do it.”
The grid has been battered by Russian attacks and charges that Kyiv could have done more to protect the network are sensitive.
Alongside the court cases, this week’s allegations of a massive corruption scandal involving Timur Mindich, co-owner of the production company founded by the president, have fueled worries about the centralization of power amid the war.
Zelensky’s office had this summer tried to strip the independence of the two agencies investigating and prosecuting the case – the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO).
The dynamic presents a challenge to Brussels, which supports Ukraine’s bid to join the bloc but is pressing Kyiv to build on democratic reforms if it wants to join the bloc.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine has been plagued by corruption scandals – with graft and rule-of-law major vulnerabilities in Kyiv’s EU bid.
While Brussels has praised progress made since the 2014 revolution, its latest monitoring report said: “The integrity, meritocracy and capacities of the judiciary and prosecutorial service... remain weak.”
‘People are afraid’
Activists have also pointed to other cases.
Zelensky’s predecessor and political rival Petro Poroshenko was charged with corruption earlier this year, a move he denounced as politically motivated.
Odesa mayor Gennadiy Trukhanov was stripped of his Ukrainian citizenship over allegations – denied by him – that he possesses a Russian passport.
Even some of his critics said it was a case of Zelensky’s office trying to tighten control over a region run by the opposition.
And one NABU detective, Ruslan Magamedrasulov, remains in custody, charged with aiding an aggressor state for allegedly doing business with Russia.
Supporters say that case is fabricated – retribution for his work investigating the scandal that came to light this week.
Other NABU staff have been detained or had their homes searched, heaping pressure on the agency.
“Some people are afraid. But if you’re talking about the general staff of the NABU, most of them are very motivated,” head Semen Kryvonos said.
There is mounting worry about how Zelensky will respond.
“The question now is – what will be their reaction,” said Daria Kaleniuk, head of the Anti-Corruption Action Center.
“If Zelensky will decide to cover his inner circle and attack.”
Justice Minister German Galushchenko, a former energy minister, was suspended Wednesday after being caught up in an investigation into one of Zelensky’s top allies, who is accused of orchestrating a $100-million scheme to secure kickbacks from the power sector.
While Galushchenko denies any wrongdoing, the scandal has sparked anger as Ukraine’s electricity grid is creaking under a barrage of attacks from Russia as the country heads into winter.
These challenges come at a critical time for Zelensky, who has remained popular and largely unchallenged since Russia invaded in 2022, with Moscow’s forces advancing in the east.
It also shows how strained the tightrope that Ukraine has been forced to walk – between centralising power to run the war, and forging on with democratic reforms key to joining the EU – is becoming.
The latest case to trigger accusations that Zelensky’s team are weaponizing the judicial system to intimidate critics was last month’s arrest of Volodymyr Kudrytsky, who led national energy company Ukrenergo until 2024, on embezzlement accusations.
Kudrytsky and his backers reject the claims as retribution for criticizing Ukraine’s strategy to defend the energy grid from Russian attacks.
“It’s purely political. It couldn’t happen without the involvement of the presidential office,” Kudrytsky, currently on bail, said, saying that he was being lined up as a scapegoat.
The authorities want to “demonstrate what will happen if you comment on sensitive matters,” he added, pointing to his strained ties with the country’s leadership.
‘Something they don’t like’
Kudrytsky has won some high-profile supporters.
Business ombudsman Roman Waschuk said the evidence “appears quite flimsy” and warned against “targeting people for simply performing their normal corporate functions.”
Opposition lawmaker Inna Sovsun said it was part of a strategy of using criminal investigations to silence people.
“So you know there is a case against you, and they will try to use it if you do something they don’t like,” she said.
Asked by AFP about the case last week, Zelensky said it was a question for the judiciary but that Kudrytsky “was a chief of a big system, and that system had to secure our energy. He had to do it.”
The grid has been battered by Russian attacks and charges that Kyiv could have done more to protect the network are sensitive.
Alongside the court cases, this week’s allegations of a massive corruption scandal involving Timur Mindich, co-owner of the production company founded by the president, have fueled worries about the centralization of power amid the war.
Zelensky’s office had this summer tried to strip the independence of the two agencies investigating and prosecuting the case – the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO).
The dynamic presents a challenge to Brussels, which supports Ukraine’s bid to join the bloc but is pressing Kyiv to build on democratic reforms if it wants to join the bloc.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine has been plagued by corruption scandals – with graft and rule-of-law major vulnerabilities in Kyiv’s EU bid.
While Brussels has praised progress made since the 2014 revolution, its latest monitoring report said: “The integrity, meritocracy and capacities of the judiciary and prosecutorial service... remain weak.”
‘People are afraid’
Activists have also pointed to other cases.
Zelensky’s predecessor and political rival Petro Poroshenko was charged with corruption earlier this year, a move he denounced as politically motivated.
Odesa mayor Gennadiy Trukhanov was stripped of his Ukrainian citizenship over allegations – denied by him – that he possesses a Russian passport.
Even some of his critics said it was a case of Zelensky’s office trying to tighten control over a region run by the opposition.
And one NABU detective, Ruslan Magamedrasulov, remains in custody, charged with aiding an aggressor state for allegedly doing business with Russia.
Supporters say that case is fabricated – retribution for his work investigating the scandal that came to light this week.
Other NABU staff have been detained or had their homes searched, heaping pressure on the agency.
“Some people are afraid. But if you’re talking about the general staff of the NABU, most of them are very motivated,” head Semen Kryvonos said.
There is mounting worry about how Zelensky will respond.
“The question now is – what will be their reaction,” said Daria Kaleniuk, head of the Anti-Corruption Action Center.
“If Zelensky will decide to cover his inner circle and attack.”
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