Ecuador protest group says no to talks again

>>QUITO: The indigenous group leading mass protests in Ecuador on Friday rejected an offer of direct talks from President Lenin Moreno to end days of deadly protests against fuel price hikes.

“The dialogue that he’s seeking lacks credibility,” the indigenous umbrella group CONAIE said in a statement, adding that it would negotiate with the government only when a decree to remove fuel subsidies has been “repealed”.

Mr Moreno earlier on Friday proposed the direct talks as the protests stretched into a 10th day. “It is essential to stop the violence,” he said in a brief address on television.

“I call on the leaders to talk directly with me.”

In their statement, the indigenous group replied that “the dialogue that the national government says it promotes ... is based on one of the worst massacres in the history of Ecuador”.

Clashes between protesters and security forces have left five dead and more than 2,000 wounded, according to the ombudsman’s office.

Indigenous groups from disadvantaged communities in the Amazon and the Andes have spearheaded demands that Mr Moreno reinstate fuel subsidies that were cut last week — part of a deal his government struck to obtain a US$4.2 billion (128 billion baht) loan from the IMF.

Riot police clashed with indigenous demonstrators at various areas in Ecuador’s capital again on Friday. Demonstrators responded to volleys of tear gas with homemade mortars and fireworks launched through tubes, turning the area around the Congress building in Quito into a battleground.

Also arriving in the capital to protest were a thousand Amazon Indians, armed with spears.

On Thursday, indigenous leaders had hardened their stance in the face-off, rejecting UN and Catholic Church-mediated talks, and calling for a “radicalisation” of the protests.