VZCZCXYZ0019
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHQT #0694/01 0792255
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 202255Z MAR 06
FM AMEMBASSY QUITO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3916
INFO RUEHBO/AMEMBASSY BOGOTA PRIORITY 5483
RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS PRIORITY 1651
RUEHLP/AMEMBASSY LA PAZ MAR 9743
RUEHPE/AMEMBASSY LIMA PRIORITY 0452
RUEHGL/AMCONSUL GUAYAQUIL PRIORITY 0157
RHMFISS/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL

UNCLAS QUITO 000694 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV PINS EC
SUBJECT: INDIGENOUS PROTESTS RENEW; LIMITED ACTION IN QUITO 
 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary:  Indigenous protesters renewed their 
Disruption of transportation in the highland provinces of 
Imbabura, Chimborazo, Cotopaxi and Canar, and began arriving 
in Quito in small numbers on March 20.  Others were blocked 
by police from entering the capital.  Two injuries stemming 
from the protest action were reported in Chimborazo. 
Anti-FTA protests could build throughout this week, but a 
pro-FTA consensus appears to be emerging among the 
government, political parties, business community and 
mainstream media.  Thus far, the military and political elite 
appear committed to the Palacio government's stability, and 
the low numbers of protesters in the capital are not yet 
sufficient to represent a threat.  End Summary. 
 
Street Action Dispersed 
----------------------- 
 
¶2.  (U) Approximately 250 indigenous marchers from Amazonian 
Pastaza province were largely blocked by police using tear 
gas from entering the capital from the south on March 20 to 
march on the palace.  Another anti-FTA group of less than 100 
marched past the Embassy on their way downtown.  Outside 
Quito, protesters blocked highways in heavily indigenous 
Chimborazo, Cotopaxi and Imbabura provinces, disrupting the 
main north-south highway in the densely-populated Sierra 
region.  Two injuries were caused when a frustrated 
individual driver fired upon protesters blocking his path in 
Riobamba.  Isolated road lockages were reported in Canar. 
 
GOE Blitzes Airwaves 
-------------------- 
 
¶3.  (U) The Government launched television spots highlighting 
the fact that no FTA has yet been reached, and featuring 
President Palacio saying no FTA would be signed unless it 
advances Ecuadorian interests.  A pro-FTA march in Quito on 
March 17 reportedly attracted 5,000 (largely drawn from and 
financed by the cut flower sector). 
 
¶4.  (U) Presidential spokesman Enrique Proano continued to 
discredit the CONAIE protests, noting that CONAIE president 
Luis Macas had not voiced dissent over the FTA during his 
tenure as Agriculture Minister under the Gutierrez 
government.  Proano also attacked 10 unnamed NGOs using 
external support to encourage the protests, implying a 
financial link to the government of Venezuela. Palacio's 
Chief of Staff Jose Modesto Apolo continued the concerted 
attack on the credibility and representativeness of the 
indigenous movement in a morning TV debate with the leader of 
the Pachakutik party. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Felipe Vega was sworn in on March 20 as Palacio's 
fifth Government Minister, charged with negotiating 
provincial demands.  GOE FTA chief negotiator Manuel 
Chiriboga advocated a new GOE program to help agricultural 
sectors adjust to the FTA, signaling a possible avenue for 
compromise.  Modesto Apolo confided to us on March 17 that 
the protests would likely continue indefinitely, blaming 
financial and political interests of anti-FTA critics. 
 
Evangelical Indigenous Protesting for Different Reasons 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
 
¶6.  (SBU) In a surprising development, the evangelical 
indigenous group FEINE publicly joined with rival CONAIE's 
anti-FTA protests in Chimborazo and Cotopaxi province.  Marco 
Murillo, FEINE's president, told us on March 20 that his 
group's motives in supporting road blockages in these two 
provinces were twofold: in Chimborazo, to force the 
government to inform and possibly involve the indigenous in 
the FTA negotiations; and in Cotopaxi, to break CONAIE's 
monopoly over provision of GOE resources and projects.  (He 
blamed CONAIE leader Lourdes Tiban, who heads the GOE's 
indigenous development organization, CODEMPE, for channeling 
GOE funds through CONAIE.)  FEINE leaders would meet with GOE 
officials in the presidency on March 20 to negotiate its 
demands. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Murillo claimed that FEINE had long been critical 
of the lack of indigenous members of the GOE FTA negotiating 
team and FEINE's position on the FTA had not changed.  FEINE 
does not seek to destabilize the Palacio government, he said, 
and had not been in contact with ex-president Gutierrez since 
his release from prison. This move by FEINE does not reflect 
the position of the broader evangelical sector in Ecuador, 
which is resolutely apolitic and unlikely to engage the FTA 
debate. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Quito remains relatively calm and undisrupted by 
indigenous anti-FTA protests, but more are expected on March 
¶21.  FEINE, an organization with proven capacity (in support 
of the Gutierrez government and normally in opposition to 
CONAIE) appears more interested in parochial interests than 
in blocking the FTA.  Without much larger numbers of 
protesters in the streets of the capital, and additional 
support inside the military or political elite, we doubt 
CONAIE's protests can achieve their aim of dissuading the GOE 
from concluding an FTA agreement. 
BROWN