Actualité - In Ecuador, Final Battle against FTA

La lutte des peuples des Amériques contre les tentatives d'imposer un agenda néo-libéral s'intensifie. Du Canada à l'Argentine, les peuples rejettent l'ingérence autant politique qu'économique. Ils sont déterminés à suivre leur propre voie. Franc-Parler publie à titre d'information deux depêches de Prensa Latina News Agency au sujet de la lutte du mouvement populaire équatorien contre la signature d'accords de libre-échange entre l'Équateur et les États-Unis.

La Paz, 1 avril (Prensa Latina) - The Ecuadorian Popular Movement was preparing Friday for the "final battle" against the free trade agreement the government intends to sign with the US, announced Paulina Munoz, popular activist and coordinator of the campaign "Ecuador Decides".

Munoz denied speculations of alleged exhaustion after last weeks' great marches and said demonstrators have now deployed throughout their provinces to celebrate assemblies and prepare new protests.

The fight against the US-sponsored FTA, still under negotiation, is closer to its final stage and has been centered on social demonstrations and appeals to institutional entities.

The campaign "Ecuador Decides" is aimed at a definitive referendum on the FTA, a treaty only supported by a minority sector of businesspeople and the government.

The indigenous movement against the polemic agreement demands that Ecuadorian President Alfredo Palacios remain true to his position of rejection of this treaty, which before reaching the presidency, he considered a fetter for the people, Munoz summarized.

The FTA is unsupportable because it favors the US and negatively affects Ecuadorians in investments, health, agriculture and services.
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Ecuador Indigenous Vent Dissent on FTA

Quito, 1 Avril (Prensa Latina) Only through suspension of talks on the free trade agreement with the US or by convening a popular consultation over the issue will new indigenous mobilizations be avoided in Ecuador, president of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), Luis Macas, said.

The indigenous leader warned that protests against the FTA will continue "until the voice of the people is heard by the government."

He said even the suspension of talks on the agreement in Washington because of US inflexibility does not necessarily mean that demonstrations will end.

"CONAIE stands by its rejection of an agreement which will put national biodiversity and our indigenous population at risk," he said.

Macas urged the government of President Alfredo Palacio to be more democratic and convene a popular consultation over the pact for the people to be able to decide whether they want the FTA.

(Prensa Latina News Agency)