Ecuador indigenous expect FTA defeat
Ecuador Indigenous Expect FTA Defeat
Quito, Dec 17 2005 (Prensa Latina) The fight against the Free Trade Area treaty with the US constitutes one of the priorities for the Ecuadorian Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities (CONAIE), the largest in the country.
According to the CONAIE communiqué, the FTA is considered the greatest threat to Ecuadorian dignity and sovereignty.
Ecuadorians cannot permit the imposition of a treaty worsening poverty and encouraging the underdevelopment currently suffered as consequence of the neoliberal model that the FTA intends to consolidate, it warned.
CONAIE calls on the people to be consequent with their history and future hopes by opposing the treaty threatening national sovereignty.
As part of their activities for next year, this indigenous organization will call for many demonstrations demanding the FTA be submitted to a popular referendum and urged expiration of the contract signed with Oxy Oil.
Oxy Oil violated Ecuadorian law in 2001 by transferring 40 percent of its stock to Canadian EnCana.
The government said it has 60 days to respond to the demand to cancel that agreement ; however, it is suspected this is a ruse to prolong the matter and negotiate a new agreement.
Oil nationalization, the call for a Constituent Assembly and the closing of Manta Base, where the US has its forces deployed, are other CONAIE priorities in its attempt to rally the masses in defense of this Andean nation’s self-determination, where more than 60 percent live in poverty.
