QUITO, Ecuador (Reuters) - At least one protester was killed and dozens injured on Monday amid violent clashes between Ecuadorean Indian demonstrators and the armed forces barely a year after a similar uprising toppled the government.
The Andean country's armed forces said one of the Indian demonstrators, who have been protesting high gasoline and transportation prices for the past week, was killed and four were hurt after the military attempted to clear them from a bridge in the Amazon Napo province.
But Benjamin Canelos, a member of the Federation of Indian Organizations (FOIN) in Napo, told Reuters four people were killed when the army opened fire on a group of some 3,000 demonstrators leading a march through the city of Puerto Napo.
It was unclear whether Canelos' comments were related to the same incident.
The armed forces also said in a statement the indigenous demonstrators had taken over an airport control tower in the city of Tena and set it on fire. Fourteen Indian protesters and nine soldiers were hurt in the clash.
Talks Fall Apart
The Italy-sized nation of 12.4 million people is struggling to consolidate political stability a year after a similar Indian uprising, backed by military personnel, toppled former president Jamil Mahuad, turning then-vice president Gustavo Noboa into Ecuador's fourth president in the last four years.
Analysts consulted by Reuters said a repeat coup is unlikely, since Noboa has the support of the business community and the military, which frequently acts as a powerbroker.
Late Sunday night Indian leaders met with the vice president and several cabinet ministers to discuss a peaceful resolution to the conflict.
But by Monday morning, Indian leaders had withdrawn from the dialogue. Blanca Chancoso, a leader of the National Indian Federation, told Reuters that talks were suspended, citing continuing government repression.
On Friday, the government declared a state of emergency to deal with some 5,000 Indians who have traveled to the capital city Quito for the protest. The move allows the government to restrict travel, group meetings and apply military and police force where it deems necessary.
Highways across the nation's highlands have been blocked for more than a week, making travel and trade nearly impossible and triggering a scarcity of basic goods -- fruits, vegetables and fuel -- in some of Ecuador's biggest cities.
Indian demonstrators are backed by various student, teacher and union groups which have planned a strike for Wednesday.
The South American country is struggling through a tough economic crisis which saw it default on its debt in 1999 and post the highest inflation in Latin American three years running. Only about 25 percent of Ecuadoreans seeking work hold a full-time job and its foreign debt is equal to about 80 percent of its gross domestic product.
Wednesday February 7 4:02 PM ET
QUITO, Ecuador (Reuters) - The government reached an accord with Indian leaders to end their massive and increasingly violent protest against proposed fuel and transport price hikes that sparked fears over Ecuador's political stability only a year after a coup.
The agreement effectively defused growing turmoil in the impoverished Andean nation after two weeks of Indian protests led to clashes with security forces in which at least four Indians died and dozens more were injured.
At a presidential palace ceremony, President Gustavo Noboa -- Ecuador's fourth leader in four years -- signed an accord with Indians who last year sparked a bloodless coup against the president's predecessor after similar economic protests.
According to a copy of the agreement sent to Reuters, the government decided to include limits on prices of cooking fuels -- crucial for poor families in the country of Amazon jungle and Andean mountains that is about the size of Italy.
``We've signed the accord, we will start to return to our communities'' later Wednesday, Indian leader Ricardo Ulcuango told Reuters.
Indian groups, who say they account for about half the population of 12 million people, had set up roadblocks by provincial towns and led marches in one of Latin America's most politically and economically unstable nations.
The government declared a state of emergency last week and deployed the army on the streets to quell protests against its proposals that were designed to boost state coffers in a nation that has been rocked by economic crises in the last few years.
The state of emergency will likely be called off on Thursday, the government said after the accord.
Memories Of Last Year's Coup
The protests by the Indians almost mirrored last year's indigenous marches, which were supported by some military officers and eventually toppled the then-President Jamil Mahuad. Noboa, who was vice president, replaced Mahuad and now has less than two years of his presidential term left.
On Wednesday, there were sporadic protests by union workers and marches in several key regional towns. Students in Quito fought running battles with riot police who fired tear gas outside the grounds of a major university.
Indian groups -- who have become over the last decade a major political powerbroker -- had blocked basic supplies of fruit and vegetables to provincial towns.
The fuel price hikes prompted some 5,000 Indians to travel to Quito in protest. Many of them, often dressed in traditional highland ponchos while coordinating marches on cellular phones, camped at the city's Salesian University campus, which has been surrounded by dozens of policemen.
Mired in economic troubles, with three quarters of its people without full-time jobs, Ecuador has lagged behind other Latin American nations, many of which have made significant strides toward free market economies and democratic stability.
The country is increasingly a regional concern with worries that a $1.3 billion U.S.-backed plan in neighboring Colombia to help its government fight against drug-traffickers and leftist guerrillas will spill into Ecuador.
Wednesday's accord also included a clause saying the government would make efforts not to allow Ecuador to be dragged into Colombia's conflict -- a sign of the worry Ecuadoreans have about the war in Colombia.
The protests over the last few weeks have caused the president's support to wane, according to leading pollster Cedatos which said he had the backing of 28 percent of the population now compared with 43 percent in December
Back to Our Heritage Home Page