Yes - of course there are many suspicions about who perhaps is financially backing these protests. Noboa has many enemies including the narco gangs and the illegal mining interests. And these people certainly have incentives to de-stabilize the government. So I agree with your assessment here 100% - but of course there is no real evidence to point to.
I did observe (and I have a photo of) a very large commercial truck waiting in line to get past checkpoint to go to the Paro. And I see taped over the spot on the outside of the truck where I think the vehicle ID goes. Also saw several vehicles with black plastic bags over their license plate. That sort of indicates people do not want to know where the money comes from to buy these vehicles.
well... ain't that suspish big time!
It's not so much about where the money comes from, but to not ID the car in case of government repression and persecution afterwards. I have some friends who did that, and it was a general thing - they covered it both to get to work as well as to the paro. Which is kind of reasonable given that the government declared everyone participating in the protests "terrorists".
OK - maybe. But for example there was a controversy on our barrio's whatsapp group where somebody said they saw a municipio truck at the Paro with it's ID covered. This would not be a proper use of city equipment. It was denied by someone from the city...but I do feel like for some of the large trucks tracing the vehicle ID would lead to places where it should not.
I also know of one guy who has a big truck for his business. He has his vehicle more or less commandeered - he is forced to drive his truck back and forth to the Paro until he runs out of fuel. That happened in the 2022 Paro. Don't know if it happened to him again in 2025.
Yes, that stuff happens unfortunately, it's one of the things that I always criticize - the argument put front for that is always the "community spirit", which is something that is indeed not easy to understand for us that did not grow up with that, but the opposite, and individualism propelled by capitalism/consumerism.
It's the same with forcing people to close down shops. To block all access to the city, instead of just the Panamericana. There's a lot that goes wrong during the paros, it feels like a mix of revenge and abuse of power by those who generally don't have it - but as a friend of mine said: The abuse of power executed by the indigenous is not even on the same scale as the abuse of power executed by the government.
That's something I still think about.
Same reply...beer therapy is required!