Holding rotten peppers in her hands, Mariana Morales says she hasn’t been able to open her stall in the Santa Clara market, north of Ecuador’s capital Quito, for a week.
The market, normally crowded with fruit and vegetables, is now home to tarpaulin-covered display cases, empty trays and abandoned stalls — the impact of two weeks of nationwide Indigenous-led protests being felt far and wide.
In Guayaquil, the country’s second largest city, Andean products such as potatoes and corn are already in short supply.
“The situation is difficult because nobody can bring food from the highlands anymore,” said Rosa, an Indigenous woman who has been selling vegetables at a port market in the southwestern city for 15 years.
An estimated 14,000 protesters are taking part in the nationwide demonstration of dissatisfaction against mounting hardship, particularly soaring fuel prices, in an economy that has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.
The ironic side effect of their demonstrations was a worsening of several economic factors: rising prices, shortages and deserted markets.
While by far the largest mobilization has taken place in the capital, where protesters number nearly 10,000, numerous checkpoints and barricades are blocking major roads across the country, particularly on the vital Pan-American Highway.
The country’s Energy Ministry warned on Sunday that these roadblocks and barricades could result in oil production being halted within 48 hours, in a dire development for an oil-export-dependent economy.
– “Everything is too expensive” –
Since the roadblocks began, Guayaquil’s only wholesale market has sold out.
The supply center normally receives almost 3,000 truckloads of food from the Andean highlands every day, but that number has fallen by almost 70 percent.
In Quito, where main access roads are temporarily closed, authorities are trying to organize army and police protection for trucks.
On Thursday, 17 soldiers were injured in an attack on one of these vans.
Like five other markets in the capital, Santa Clara had to close for several days and only partially resumed operations on Saturday.
“The peppers were brand new and now it’s all wasted,” Morales said, dipping her fingers into the rotten produce.
Despite the ruined vegetables, the 69-year-old hasn’t gone to the wholesale market to stock up because of the price explosion, explaining: “A bag of carrots that used to cost $25 is now worth $100.”
Consumers are finding it difficult to afford a range of products, from eggs to chicken to cooking fuel.
Morales said it gave her “guilty conscience” to charge customers a dollar for just a spring onion stalk.
Silvana Quimi, a housewife in Guayaquil, where food prices have doubled in a week, said that “everything is too expensive” now.
“Previously they sold me a kilo of tomatoes for half a dollar, now it costs me a dollar.”
Similarly in the capital, where a bunch of bananas that used to cost $1.00 now costs $2.00.
“What’s available will cost an arm and a leg,” said Agustin Pazmino, a 56-year-old dealer.
Conservative President Guillermo Lasso “promised us heaven during his campaign, but we live in hell,” he said.
A no-confidence hearing over what opposition lawmakers say is Lasso’s role in the protests, which resumed for a second day in Congress late Sunday. Five people have died so far.
The National Assembly will eventually vote on whether to oust Lasso, a former banker who came to power a year ago.
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