Ecuadorians Threaten Strike Unless Gov't Rescinds Gas PriceHikes

A coalition of Ecuadorian social groups on Tuesday issued an ultimatum to President Gustavo Noboa : rescind the austerity measures enacted last Friday - that include a 64-percent hike in gas prices - or face a national strike.

Meanwhile, the Patriotic Front (FP), the Social Movement Coordinating Committee (CMS), and the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) agreed to meet in Quito on Saturday to determine the date and the characteristics of a protest strategy to employ against the government.

Last Friday, Noboa announced the fuel price increase, cushioning the impact by announcing a concurrent 55-percent increase in base wages in addition to other measures aimed at assisting the underprivileged classes.

The reaction of the social groups, however, was unequivocal, although the three-day holiday weekend from Friday to Sunday did mitigate their response. Group organizers announced new rounds of protests to prevent the price hikes.

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Popular Front President Luis Villacis told the press that social organizations will meet Saturday to decide when and what kind of popular protest should be held.

Villacis stressed, however, that the government can prevent the mass protest by lifting the planned increase in gas prices before that date. If it does not, he warned that the high prices at the pumps could unleash the social unrest that has worried some military officials.

According to official statistics, more than 60 percent of the population lives in poverty, with a high index of homelessness.

Unemployment and underemployment are near 70 percent and the average wage of most of the population is well below 240 dollars per month: the estimated cost of the basic food needs and services for that time.

Indian organizations, which were pivotal in ousting President Jamil Mahuad earlier this year, joined the chorus of discontent.

Salvador Quishpe, the leader of the powerful CONAIE, said the government's plan not only affected unions, but rather "is a national problem" that would be met with a response by all sectors.

Leftist leader Napoleon Saltos, who forms part of the CMS, told EFE that with this (economic) blow by the presidency, the people have no choice but to take to the streets in protest.

However, Saltos does not believe the protests should be "combative, as in the past," but instead that they reflect more "orderly behavior on the part of the social movements."

"The protests are not only against the (new) measures, but also against the neo-liberal economic model and the conditions imposed by the International Monetary Fund. They are a call, too, for the expansion of a democracy that satisfies the needs of the people," Saltos said.

Saltos agrees with Luis Maldonado, the president of the Ecuadorian Federation of Exporters (Fedexport), who believes the primary need is to stimulate the development of the nation's productive apparatus.

Maldonado suggests that the increase in fuel prices and the increase in base wages will not, by themselves, resolve the nation's financial crisis. Without a recovery in the production sector, it will be difficult to escape the "horrendous tunnel" into which the nation has plummeted.

However, government officials believe the adjustments, although painful, are necessary to reactivate the nation's economy, which is in the midst of the worst economic crisis in the nation's history.

The Noboa administration insists that the groups organizing the protests have been infiltrated by leftists extremists pursuing obscure political goals and has warned that it will pursue the promoters of social upheaval "with the full weight of the law," and imprison the protest leaders if necessary.

Ecuadorian Interior Minister Antonio Andretta on Tuesday warned the government would clamp down on unlawful demonstrations even as civil groups continue making preparations for a national strike.

"I hope that there isn't any unrest... that isn't the way. When there is a government that acts in good faith, when there is a country that, convinced of its potential, wants to overcome its difficulties, the thing to do is to come together, because we aren't among enemies," Andretta said.

"The government is working in good faith and for the good of the country... and that is why we cannot tolerate, and will not tolerate, any upheaval or social disorder," Andretta underscored. EFE