Syndicate: Ecuador updates 3

[Paola Lucchesi <paola.lucchesi@mail.inet.it>]

From: "Audro" <audro@exis.net>

Ecuador: 20.000 indigenas in Quito. The capital is militarised. Heavy
confrontations feared.
By Marlon Carrion C.

   Agencia Informativa Púlsar
  Información para América Latina vía Internet
_______________________________________________________

QUITO, Ecuador. The apparent calm up to now in the Ecuadorian city ended.
At this stage people fear confrontations between the nearly 20.000 indigenas
that converged into the city and the heavy deployed military force around
the
governmental palace.

The president of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador
(CONAIE), Antonio Vargas, said in a press conference that the struggle will
go on, that the indegena and popular uprising will continue until the ex-
government of Jamil Mahuad comes out of the Palacio de Carondelet and
resigns from power.

 Vargas said that the indigenas y the urban sectors will not go on their
knees
in front of robbers and corrupt peoples detaining the economic and political
power. He therefore called upon one single front because only the people can
save the people. He also urged the police and the military to point their
guns
towards those who plunder the country and not against the people and the
indigenas, their brothers and sisters.

While Vargas was talking to the press and in front of thousands of indigenas
gathered at the Agoras of the Casa de la Cultura, Quito, a police helicopter
threw propaganda leaflets in both Spanish and Quechua.

The leaflets accused the indigenas leaders of being corrupt and wanting to
destroy the country. It called the indigenas to go peacefully back to their
lands. This caused such anger and indignation among the demonstrators
that the police in the sector had to flee.

Vargas confirmed the paralysation of the country in the rural sectors. He
thanked the people from Quito for the support they had provided so far.

He condemned the violence used by the military who confronted the farmers
on the Ecuadorian coast. In some places the farmers had one to one
confrontations with the military. The number of arrests is considered to be
more than 300 so far.

Antonio Vargas denounced a further attempt of the police to arrest them,
which was not possible due to the massive number of indigenas. He called
upon the workers of the transport sector not to let them fool by the
promises
of the government like it had been the case for the indigenas in July 99
when
they had converged massively into Quito during another uprising.

The Peoples Parliament rejected any dialogue with the government, saying
they were tired of promises and lies. The Peoples Parliament defended the
Constitutional paragraph attributing the sovereignty to the people and not
to
the politicians.

Vargas said that the uprising will not use arms. Its strategy is to block
the
roads and with the support of the oil industry workers, there will be fuel
shortage in the whole country. The idea is to generate chaos and get the
people to let the people express their discontent with the illegitimate
government of Mahuad.

This discontentment has been visible in the rest of the cities in the
country.
For instance, on Wednesday morning in Cuenca, about 50.000 inhabitants
took the streets and marched to the governmental building. Although the
police and the military tried to repress the people, the push by the
demonstrators was superior. Everyone is demanding Mahuad and his
government to resign.

In Loja, capital of the province with the same name, the demonstrations and
protests haven't stopped. Around noon, the military invaded university
buildings. Hundreds of students were detained and several were seriously
beaten up.

At the moment we send this message, Pulsar was informed of an enormous
military and police operation in the City of Quito that is trying to prevent
the
indegenas march from reaching the centre of the City, which is were the
presidential house is. It is considered that the number of military is way
larger than it was when expresident Abdala Bucaram was forced by the
people to leave the country. (Ec/QR/Po-Pi/Cs-Pp/mc)


----------------------------------------


From: "Audro" <audro@exis.net>

 From the CONAIE
 From: "UBV-Quito" <ctsueca@ECNET.ec <mailto:ctsueca@ECNET.ec>>
 January 19, 2000

 ECUADOR PARALYZED BY INSURRECTION OF THE PEOPLE
 The Uprising of the People of Ecuador is acquiring great strength in the
 country, despite the levels of repression, disinformation and slander the
 the government has used in an attempt to check the struggle of the
 Indigenous Nations and Peoples (Nacionalidades y Pueblos Indigenas) and
 other sectors of the country's population.

 45% of our population are indigenous peoples.  More than 80% of our
 12,000,000 Ecuadorians live in impoverished conditions caused by the groups
 that hold economic power in our nation.  We are marching now because we are
 gravely affected by this dollarization while the bankers and others who
have
 access to large amounts of capital are taking advantage of the great
profits
 to be made by speculating in the dollar and in the dollarization of our
 economy.

 These cries of dignity are reaching the ears and hearts of millions of
 brothers and sisters  throughout the world who day by day are showing
 solidarity with our struggle in different ways.

 In Ecuador, the national and international press are hoping that things
will
 die down quickly.   But our resistance will be fruitful.  We will paralyze
 the nation from the countryside to the city, for days or weeks, until there
 are thousands of villagers, workers, students, and women swelling our
 marches, hoping and crying for a better day.

 The solidarity between the poor in the country and the poor the city has
 enabled us to support close to 15,000 of our indigenous brothers and
sisters
 who have managed to circumvent military controls,  following in the
 footsteps of our elders in the path of resistance against all oppressive
 regimes.   The solidarity of the schools, colleges and NGO's
 (Non-Governmental Organizations)  helps revitalize the forces and the great
 vision, so that we can continue, day by day, shaking the creaking old
 structures of the State that so richly serve the corrupt millionaires,
 impresarios, civil servants, and bankers.

 According to poll, the government of Mahaud has only an 11% credibility
 rate, which is supported only by the opinion of the politicians, small
 national and trans-national power groups, and a few embassies who value the
 interests of their businessmen over true democracy and popular sovereignty.

The international community should add its pressure to the pressure on the
Ecuadorian government that is being brought by millions of Ecuadorians, to
stop recognizing this government and bring about its fall, a fall that has
been
 procured and brought upon its depositors and upon our fiscal reserves by
the
 bankers.

 January 19, 2000
 SIERRA REGION
 LOJA

 translated by audro


------Syndicate mailinglist--------------------
 Syndicate network for media culture and media art
 information and archive: http://www.v2.nl/syndicate
 to unsubscribe, write to <syndicate-request@aec.at>
 in the body of the msg: unsubscribe your@email.adress