Quito, December 5 (RHC)-- The government of Ecuador has tried to justify, through a statement, the repression of protesters who took to the streets in October for ten days to reject the economic reform that Lenin Moreno's regime intended to impose.

The text, issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ecuador, questions the report presented by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) confirming the unnecessary and disproportionate use of repression by the security forces.

"The communiqué (of the OHCHR) puts an excessive emphasis on the supposed repression of the public force, while describing the great damage caused by the protesters to people and public and private goods, or the virulence of the disturbances, which caused terrible effects," the Ecuadorean Foreign Minister José Valencia said in a statement.

For the government of Ecuador, "the alleged excessive use of force by riot forces" is an "assessment that Ecuador finds unjustified."  According to the report of the international organization, during the days of popular mobilizations in October in Ecuador, nine people were killed, 1,507 injured, including 435 security agents, and 1,382 detainees.   In this regard, according to the foreign ministry, the "State Attorney General investigated the allegations of alleged excessive use of force."   

The UN office document also notes that there were "unidentified individuals, outside the organizers of the protests, inciting violence or performed violent acts."

He also noted that the public force "did not use lethal means to repel the attacks" and that, for this reason, "there were no injuries or deaths from gunfire by the public forces." 

The OHCHR argued that citizens "should be able to express their complaints without fear of being injured," however, the testimonies collected from Ecuadoreans indicate that they constantly received tear gas and gun shots at close range.