[Ip-health] Reuters: Ecuador declares state of emergency to control FTA protests

[Mike Palmedo]

http://www.boston.com/news/world/latinamerica/articles/2006/03/22/ecuador_d=
eclares_emergency_amid_indian_protest/?p1=3DMEWell_Pos4

Ecuador calls emergency to quell Indian protest

Carlos Andrade
March 21, 2006

QUITO, Ecuador (Reuters) - Ecuador declared a state of emergency in five
central provinces on Tuesday to try to control renewed protests by
thousands of Indians demanding the government quit U.S. free-trade talks
this week.

Interior Minister Felipe Vega announced the measure after Indian
peasants intensified blockades on key roads in at least eight highland
regions in protests that have cost Ecuador millions in lost commerce
since they began last week.

"The president took this decision after exhausting all other options for
dialogue," Vega told reporters.

The state of emergency forbids public gatherings and marches and sets
curfews. Troops earlier this week reinforced security along major
highways leading into the capital.

The protests were the latest test for President Alfredo Palacio, a
cardiologist with little political backing who says he will not halt the
trade negotiations. A strike this month by workers at state company
Petroecuador trimmed crude output.

Ecuadorean and U.S. officials will meet in Washington on Thursday for
the trade talks. Ecuador's Andean neighbors, Colombia and Peru, have
already signed deals.

Indian protesters fear the trade pact will damage their livelihoods and
way of life. Since protests began nine days ago, indigenous leaders have
threatened to take their fight to the capital but so far only small
groups have reached Quito.

"We are going to continue with the protests," Gilberto Talahua, an
Indian leader and organizer, told Reuters after the emergency announcement.

The government declared emergency in the highland provinces of Cotopaxi,
Canar, Chimborazo, Imbabura and parts of Pichincha, where Quito is located.

HISTORY OF TURMOIL

Palacio, who came to office 10 months ago after Congress fired his
predecessor, has faced a series of strikes and protests from provinces
seeking more financing from the state before presidential elections in
October.

Three Ecuadorean presidents have been forced out by turmoil in the
unstable Andean country since 1997.

After centuries of discrimination by an elite, Indians organized to help
overthrow President Jamil Mahuad in 2000. The movement has lost some
momentum due to infighting, but is still a powerful voice for indigenous
people.

Government officials said they were probing participation of foreign
nongovernmental organizations in the demonstrations. Indians leaders
deny charges their protests are funded by foreign governments or groups.

Speaking from Caracas, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez dismissed
suggestions from an Ecuadorean lawmaker that he was financing the
simmering Indian protests.

Chavez, a socialist ally of Cuba who opposes U.S. free-trade deals, has
become a focal point for many resurging left-wing movements in South
America. He says his self-styled revolution counters U.S. policies.
Washington accuses him of being a destabilizing influence.

"This is not the Venezuelan government. I believe this is the conscience
of the people who have decided to live and be free," Chavez said
referring to the protests.

Indians make up an estimated 30 percent of Ecuador's total population of
13 million.

(Additional reporting by Alexandra Valencia in Quito and Patrick Markey
in Caracas)



--
Mike Palmedo
Research and Web
Consumer Project on Technology
T =96 202-332-2670
F =96 202-332-2673
mpalmedo@cptech.org