Protests in Ecuador
While traveling in Ecuador, you have to be prepared to adjust your travel itinerary in order to avoid protests in Ecuador. Road blocks and protests against the Ecuadorian government are not uncommon. Like in Peru, they are usually announced in advance, so people can take their precautions. The protests often involve transport companies, farmers and other indigenous people.
CONAIE
CONAIE (the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador), is Ecuador’s largest indigenous rights organization. They are also the most vocal and powerful group when it comes to protests in Ecuador. Many of its members are hard working farmers and craftsmen/ women who live below the official poverty standards. When its members are really opposed to decisions from the Ecuadorian government, they block the streets, until something changes. They are tough people, used to tough conditions and willing to fight for the little they have.
Corruption in Ecuador
Informality and corruption are very common in Ecuador. In daily life each Ecuadorian will have to deal with informality and corruption. This goes from buying and selling products on the streets (without paying taxes), to bribing police officers and/ or other government employees. On Transparency International’s 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index, Ecuador scored 32 on a scale from 0 (“highly corrupt”) to 100 (“very clean”). When ranked by score, Ecuador ranked 121st among the 180 countries in the Index. This is a shame, because Ecuador is rich in natural resources and with good leadership, it could be a rich and independent country…
Cause of current protests in Ecuador
The current (31 October 2025) protests in Ecuador started on 13 September, when president Daniel Noboa decided to cancel the fuel subsidies on diesel. Fuel subsidies have historically kept agriculture and transport costs low in Ecuador.[3] This benefitted struggling populations and key economic sectors. Without this subsidy the price of diesel went overnight from 1.80 US$ a gallon, to 2.80 US$ a gallon! The reasons behind cancelling this subsidy are to reduce fiscal deficits, redirect funds to other social programs and to complicate illegal mining (they use a lot of diesel in the illegal mining).
Lack of confidence in the Ecuadorian government
Supposedly all legal businesses would be able to receive compensation for the price raise of diesel. But many people don’t believe these promises from the government and with reason. Years ago the Ecuadorian government introduced a plan to support elderly Ecuadorians who wanted to travel. Each Ecuadorian of 65 years, or older only has to pay 50% of the ticket price (even for flight tickets) when traveling. The government would pay for the other 50%. It seems that in the very beginning this was actually happening, but the government support quicky disappeared. Now the transport companies have to pay for this 50% discount themselves. Other interesting detail: Ecuador has its own oil reserves, but it doesn’t have any processing plants, so it has to sell its oil and buy its gasoline and diesel…
Protests while traveling in Ecuador
Should the current protests, or future protests stop you from booking your vacation to Ecuador? No. Ecuadorians can be resourceful people if they have to. When protests, or other things interrupt their daily life and routine, they will find ways to accept and/ or deal with them by being flexible. This is exactly what you will have to do when you travel in Ecuador while there are protests. Stay informed, stay away from those protests and look for alternatives. Remember, most protests are against the government, not against regular Ecuadorians, or tourists. If main roads are blocked, there are always alternative routes to travel, while there are also local people who will help you to travel safely between the roadblocks and protests. Just remember to stay patient and friendly and dealing with these inconveniences will just become a part of your travel experience.
Travel anecdote about a protest in Ecuador
Years ago I was working as a volunteer with animal rescue center Merazonia in Mera. It was Sunday, late afternoon and I heard on the radio that the next day there would be a two day national strike from all transport companies! The strike would also include protests and roadblocks. That was bad news, because on Monday morning I was supposed to travel in about 4 hours to Quito, for my flight on Tuesday to the Netherlands… I decided to hire a private taxi, to depart on Monday morning at 6:00 am towards Quito.
Traveling to Quito past roadblocks
The first hour towards Baños de Ambato went smooth, but then we encountered our first roadblock. We went on an alternative route, but then encountered new roadblocks and it turned out that the taxi driver wasn’t that experienced in finding alternative routes to Quito. After a while he told me that he didn’t want to continue anymore, because he was afraid that they would close one of the roads behind him and then he wouldn’t know if he could make it back home. He also told me that it is common in Ecuador that when there are roadblocks, that local people offer transport at a small fee in their pickup trucks, or other small trucks. So the next few hours I travelled with my two backpacks from roadblock to roadblock in the back of different pickup trucks. When I came closer to Quito, there were more protests and roadblocks and when I walked past one of them to look for new transport, a motor rider stopped next to me. It turned out that he was the owner of El Papagayo, a popular hostel between Quito and Cotopaxi. He offered me on the back of his 750cc motorcycle into the center of Quito. Since the protests weren’t against us, we managed to smoothly pass the various roadblocks. After an adventurous full day journey, I arrived at my hostel in Quito around 17:30 h.
