Cuenca protesters march against vaccines and mandates, claiming their freedom is violated

About 70 Cuencanos opposed to Covid-19 vaccines and government mandates marched up Calle Simon Bolivar Thursday afternoon. Afterward, the group gathered at what has become known as the rincón de movilización, or protest corner, in Parque Calderon, waving signs at passersby.

Protesters against Covid-19 vaccines and health mandates marched up Simon Bolivar on Thursday.

Marchers carried banners claiming that the pandemic is false and a government conspiracy to deprive citizens of their liberties. Other signs equated vaccines to a death sentence and read “No to health dictatorship.”

Other protesters said their opposition was to recent mandates requiring vaccine cards to enter restaurants, stores and public events. “I am vaccinated and have no problem with it but I believe it is a violation of our rights to require certificates to enter businesses and attend exhibits,” one man said in a radio interview. “My wife has a health condition and cannot take the vaccine but the health ministry refuses to give her the exemption. Is it fair that she cannot go with me to the grocery store or restaurants?”

On Monday, four self-proclaimed “anti-vaxxers” appeared on a Cuenca television interview program to express their views and support protests. “It is outrageous and unfair what the government is doing to the people,” said José Luis Salazar, who described himself as a “natural doctor”. “By its rules, they are making us prisoners in our own country.”

Salazar said treatments for Covid infections should be left to individuals and not mandated by authorities. He recommended the use of colloidal silver, sodium chloride solution and ivermectin as preventives and treatments for Covid. “These are very effective but the government ridicules them and bans them in treatment regimes.”

German expat Matteo Ulrich told the interviewer that Ecuador’s rules “restrict his freedom as a citizen of the world.” He said restrictions in Europe, particularly in Germany, are more stringent that Ecuador’s. “This is part of an international plan to reduce our rights and construct a one-world government,” he said.

As a preventive and cure for Covid, Ulrich recommended drinking two ounces of urine every morning. “This is a well-researched strategy with proven success,” he said. “Women’s urine is the best – I think of it as mother’s milk – but my wife disagrees with my point of view and will not produce for me. I find my own urine quite satisfactory, however.”