Susana Andrade is an Ecuadorian anthropologist with a doctorate in Social Anthropology in Paris, at the School of Higher Studies in Social Sciences. She has been a visiting professor in France and a research professor at different universities in Ecuador. Now she is a professor of anthropology at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador.

His research has revolved around the conversion to Protestantism of Kichwas from Chimborazo province, religious identities and their relationship with political behavior. He has also worked on cultural policies, intangible heritage and anthropology in Ecuador.

After his presentation at the seminar of coves, Susana Andrade agreed to speak with the team of Encartes to catch up on the events that occurred in his country between October 2 and 13 of last year, when the issuance by President Lenin Moreno of Decree 883 on the elimination of the gasoline subsidy sparked a series of protests that ended in an uprising against neoliberal policies.

Combining his role as witness, participant and analyst of the experiences, he narrated the events that triggered the protests and went on to highlight the unforeseen role of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (conaie) in the facts, and the importance of the participation of young people in this taking of the organization's position, even under the effects of the harassment policy by Rafael Correa.

Afterwards, Dr. Andrade analyzes and positively ponders the outcome of the events several times: given the violence that was unleashing in the country, "there was a lot of maturity" on the part of the actors who decided to accept the solution proposed by the presidency.

As a result to highlight of these facts, our interviewee points out the importance of the generational change that occurred, for example, in the conaie and considers that the conflict has not been closed, since there is a lack of communication between the political actors that she describes as “failed interculturality”.