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20.000 indigenas in Quito. The capital is militarised. Heavy confrontations feared

By Marlon Carrion C., Agencia Informativa Púlsar
20 January 2000

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 to 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.