Thousands of Ecuadorians took to the streets despite pouring rain in cities across the country, to demand the resignation of US-backed President Daniel Noboa. Protesters accuse him of criminalizing protest and jailing his political opponents, and are calling for improvements to Ecuador’s health care and education systems. Demonstrators mobilized by social and student groups chanted “¡Fuera Noboa!” in Quito, as well as Guayaquil and Cuenca on Saturday. Among the marchers were kidney patients who say the state’s unpaid debt to dialysis clinics has left them without lifesaving treatment. “The country is going to ruin,” said protester Sebastian Racines, accusing Noboa’s government of allowing drugs to flow through the country’s ports. “Everyone knows what is happening in Ecuador. Where do the drugs come from? From the ports. And who runs the ports? It is the President of the Republic.”

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