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To: richardred who wrote (541)	3/16/2006 12:44:30 PM
From: richardred	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3363

Ecuadorian Indigenous People Oppose Free Trade Pact with US QUITO— Indigenous peoples of Ecuador initiated a strike today in the town of Cotopaxi, while warning President Alfredo Palacio of negative consequences should he sign a free trade agreement with the United States. Several important mountain highways were shut down Monday morning by indigenousness and farmer members of the Seguro Social Campesino (SSC) organization. Danny Montolla, a SSC leader, called on the government to provide funding for irrigation and highway development projects. The group also demanded that any trade agreement be subjected to a review by the people. Montolla told the media that Washington’s free trade agreement with would mean bankruptcy for Ecuadorian farmers when subsidized US agricultural products begin entering the country. “We also insist that the US corporation Occidental Petroleum be expelled from the country, because it violated the nation’s laws by selling 40 percent of its shares without any previous consultation with the government,” Montolla underscored. In addition to the closing of roads and highways, a mass march began on Saturday in Puyo, Amazonia, joined by other organizations belonging to the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE). Those groups are now heading towards the capital city. An advance party of the march arrived in Quito and took control of the Metropolitan Cathedral, announcing that they will remain there while waiting for a reply from President Alfredo Palacio to their demands against the free trade agreement. periodico26.cu