Ecuadorian residents have reported up to 13 hours of power outages due to an energy crisis caused by an intense drought, while President Daniel Noboa decreed two non-working days.
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After Noboa assured on Tuesday that there would be no more cuts, his Government has been forced to carry out blackouts twice as long as those experienced at the end of 2023, when a similar situation led to daily cuts of up to four hours due to the impossibility of meet national demand.
Meanwhile, workers and experts interviewed by teleSURtv stated that the declaration of an energy "holiday" did not take into account the economic needs of workers and their families. This is not an act of rebellion, but of survival, they clarified.
Ecuador is a country where approximately 70% of the population does not have a formal job, many businesses have opened and many people who usually live off what they earn daily went to work as usual.
Noboa pointed out that the hydroelectric generation deficit is the result of sabotage and blamed 22 officials, including his former Minister of Energy and Mines, Andrea Arrobo, whom he asked to resign. He accused them all of paralyzing public service and treason.
On the other hand, the Secretary of Communication of the Presidency, Roberto Izurieta, asserted that there are suspicions that the Mazar reservoir was deliberately emptied to deepen the energy crisis in the days prior to the referendum called by the Government on reforms in security, justice and employment.
Roberto Luque, Minister of Transport and Public Works, who has temporarily assumed the portfolio of Energy and Mines, already warned on Tuesday that there will be no immediate solutions, beyond torrential rain in the reservoir areas, so the outlook for the Ecuadorians looks discouraging.