Ecuador interior minister quits in face of spreading anti-U.S. protests
QUITO, Ecuador
Ecuador's interior minister quit Wednesday as protests by natives opposed to free-trade talks with Washington intensified, spreading from the highlands into the oil-producing southeastern jungle where police clashed with residents demanding more spending on public works.
Government spokesman Enrique Proano said President Alfredo Palacio was meeting behind closed doors with Congress President Wilfrido Lucero and Supreme Court President Jaime Velasco "to inform them of the situation facing the nation and the threat hovering over the institutions of Ecuador."
Proano said Palacio received the resignation of Interior Minister Alfredo Castillo, who a day earlier warned constant protests - not only by natives but also contracted oil workers and jungle residents - was interrupting crucial oil production and could lead to "another coup."
The Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador, the nation's main native movement, started blockading roads and highways Monday with burning tires, rocks and tree trunks and have threatened to overthrow Palacio's government if he signs a free-trade pact with President George W. Bush's administration.
They also have demanded Ecuador cancel the oil concession granted to U.S.-based Occidental Petroleum Corp., which has been embroiled in tax and contract disputes with Ecuador's government since August 2004.
Proano said the natives' demands to expel Occidental and immediately withdraw Ecuador's free trade negotiators from a final round of talks next week do not "merit consideration."
"It would seem what they seek is a destabilization of democracy," he said.
Deputy interior minister Felipe Vega said Palacio was still seeking face-to-face meetings with native leaders to explain the government's position on the trade talks, as well as dialogue with jungle residents to consider their demands for more government spending.
The native protest began a day after Palacio diffused a strike by contract oil workers and two weeks after his government ended violent demonstrations targeting oil facilities in the Napo province by accepting protesters' demands to sharply increase spending on social programs, roads and a regional airport.
On Wednesday, television broadcast images of soldiers firing tear gas to disperse a small group of protesters in the jungle province Pastaza who tried to seize the facilities of Italian-owned Agip Oil Corp. to demand government spending in their area.
Police said earlier Wednesday protests on the two previous days had been mostly non-violent but six people had been arrested and 14 others injured, none seriously, in minor confrontations with security forces.
The native confederation, which recently aligned itself with the left-leaning governments of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Bolivian President Evo Morales, is opposed to capitalist policies and accuses the United States of exercising too much influence in the region.
Colombia and Peru have already signed deals with Washington and Ecuador is scheduled to enter a final round of talks March 23.
Shortages of fruit and vegetables were reported in the capital as roadblocks throughout the Andean highlands interrupted the trade of basic food products.
Ecuador has a population of 13 million, one-third of them native, mainly Quichua speakers from the highlands. They were the backbone of a January 2000 uprising that forced former president Jamil Mahuad from power.
But the movement lost momentum after it threw its support in the 2002 elections behind former army colonel Lucio Gutierrez, who had joined the native revolt two years earlier.
The victorious Gutierrez appointed several native leaders to his cabinet but his alliance fell apart within eight months after he implemented austere, capitalist policies.
Congress voted to fire Gutierrez a year ago and appointed Palacio, the elected vice-president, to finish his term after Gutierrez disbanded the Supreme Court and declared a state of emergency, sparking street protests in Quito.
He was the third president forced from power since 1997.
Ecuador's interior minister quit Wednesday as protests by natives opposed to free-trade talks with Washington intensified, spreading from the highlands into the oil-producing southeastern jungle where police clashed with residents demanding more spending on public works.
Government spokesman Enrique Proano said President Alfredo Palacio was meeting behind closed doors with Congress President Wilfrido Lucero and Supreme Court President Jaime Velasco "to inform them of the situation facing the nation and the threat hovering over the institutions of Ecuador."
Proano said Palacio received the resignation of Interior Minister Alfredo Castillo, who a day earlier warned constant protests - not only by natives but also contracted oil workers and jungle residents - was interrupting crucial oil production and could lead to "another coup."
The Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador, the nation's main native movement, started blockading roads and highways Monday with burning tires, rocks and tree trunks and have threatened to overthrow Palacio's government if he signs a free-trade pact with President George W. Bush's administration.
They also have demanded Ecuador cancel the oil concession granted to U.S.-based Occidental Petroleum Corp., which has been embroiled in tax and contract disputes with Ecuador's government since August 2004.
Proano said the natives' demands to expel Occidental and immediately withdraw Ecuador's free trade negotiators from a final round of talks next week do not "merit consideration."
"It would seem what they seek is a destabilization of democracy," he said.
Deputy interior minister Felipe Vega said Palacio was still seeking face-to-face meetings with native leaders to explain the government's position on the trade talks, as well as dialogue with jungle residents to consider their demands for more government spending.
The native protest began a day after Palacio diffused a strike by contract oil workers and two weeks after his government ended violent demonstrations targeting oil facilities in the Napo province by accepting protesters' demands to sharply increase spending on social programs, roads and a regional airport.
On Wednesday, television broadcast images of soldiers firing tear gas to disperse a small group of protesters in the jungle province Pastaza who tried to seize the facilities of Italian-owned Agip Oil Corp. to demand government spending in their area.
Police said earlier Wednesday protests on the two previous days had been mostly non-violent but six people had been arrested and 14 others injured, none seriously, in minor confrontations with security forces.
The native confederation, which recently aligned itself with the left-leaning governments of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Bolivian President Evo Morales, is opposed to capitalist policies and accuses the United States of exercising too much influence in the region.
Colombia and Peru have already signed deals with Washington and Ecuador is scheduled to enter a final round of talks March 23.
Shortages of fruit and vegetables were reported in the capital as roadblocks throughout the Andean highlands interrupted the trade of basic food products.
Ecuador has a population of 13 million, one-third of them native, mainly Quichua speakers from the highlands. They were the backbone of a January 2000 uprising that forced former president Jamil Mahuad from power.
But the movement lost momentum after it threw its support in the 2002 elections behind former army colonel Lucio Gutierrez, who had joined the native revolt two years earlier.
The victorious Gutierrez appointed several native leaders to his cabinet but his alliance fell apart within eight months after he implemented austere, capitalist policies.
Congress voted to fire Gutierrez a year ago and appointed Palacio, the elected vice-president, to finish his term after Gutierrez disbanded the Supreme Court and declared a state of emergency, sparking street protests in Quito.
He was the third president forced from power since 1997.
posted by Alice at
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
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