Ecuador Mobilizes Against Free Trade Agreement

For the last two days, in various points across Ecuador, the social movements and organizations have been, once again, on the warpath. The enemy, always the same at heart, today bears the name Free Trade Agreement. The Ecuadorians have decided to wage a frontal battle against that kind of "accord," with which the United States hopes to take possession of the riches of our América. Or as the manifesto that we received from the nucleus of the new Ecuadorian mobilization says: "The model that the FTA imposes is based on the importation of what they don't want... and in the exportation and privatization of our natural resources and the ransacking of our biodiversity." Let's go look at the story...

On November 9, on the eve of the signing of the Andean Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the United States, Ecuador, Colombia, and Peru, the Federation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE in its Spanish initials) released a communique. Signing the FTA, said federation president Luis Macas, was equivalent to “allowing not just the goods but the life of present and future generations of Ecuadorians to be confiscated, as we will be submitted to the laws of transnational corporations and the geo-strategy of the United States."
For that reason, as well as other demands (such as Occidental Petroleum's exit from the country), Ecuador's social organizations called for mobilization: "We call on the Ecuadorian people, on the social organizations, on the assemblies and all the popular sectors committed to profound change, to demand that the country rise to the task of QUE SE VAYAN TODOS" ("all of them must go," meaning the political class).

And, logically, inside the circles of power, in the office of President Alfredo Palacio, no one paid attention to them. Because of that, since a little over 48 hours ago, Quito and a few Ecuadorian provinces have been living through some turbulent times.