25 to meet to stop the protests, including freezing diesel prices at$1.50 per gallon and gasoline at$2.10 per gallon 10 , a moratorium on debt repayment, fair prices on agricultural products and state cessation of extractive mining developments in certain locations(CONAIE 2022). Fuel subsidy cuts have been a core point of contestation between protesters and Ecuador’s past two administrations. Fuel subsidies amount to more than$1 billion in annual government spending(Long 2019) and IMF loan conditionality has required cost-cutting measures to balance the state’s budget to unlock additional funding(Martinez and Brown 2021). Violent protests in October 2019 followed former president Lenín Moreno’s announcement that he would end fuel subsidies to comply with the terms of an IMF loan(Long 2019). Moreno eventually decided not to immediately repeal the subsidy, instead signing a decree initiating gradual price hikes starting in May 2020. After renegotiating certain aspects of the IMF loan in October 2021, President Lasso immediately faced public pressure to again freeze fuel prices and stop Moreno’s gradual price rises. Lasso capitulated and set the diesel price at$1.90 per gallon and gasoline at$2.55 per gallon(Valencia 2021a). Even as Lasso froze prices, some protests persisted into late October 2021(Valencia 2021b). After seven months with only two fuel-related protests, people again took to the streets across the country to demand an even lower price freeze on fuel in June 2022. CONAIE initiated a coordinated national shutdown on 13 June 2022, blocking 20 highways in 11 of the country’s 24 provinces(El Comercio 2022). Along with disrupting trade and transport routes across the country, protesters occupied portions of Quito and eventually took over the small city of Puyo by force(Cabrera and Janetsky 2022). Security forces arrested CONAIE leader Leonidas Iza on 14 June but released him less than 24 hours later. Before Iza’s release, on 15 June, police and protesters fought outside the military base where the leader was detained (Al Jazeera 2022). The clash was a harbinger of further violent struggles. Figure 8 Numbers of fuel protests in Ecuador, June 2022 10 Ecuador is dollarised, meaning that it uses the United States dollar as its official currency.