Ecuador strains to hike oil output, open talks (with protesters)

[struggle4progress]

21 Aug 2005 02:24:26 GMT
Source: Reuters
(Recasts, adds interior minister comments)

By Hugh Bronstein

QUITO, Ecuador, Aug 20 (Reuters) - Ecuador strained to increase petroleum production on Saturday as the government offered to negotiate with protesters whose violent attacks shut down the country's oil operations over the last week. <snip>

The attacks will continue until the government frees at least 80 protesters who were arrested, said Guadalupe Llori, the elected prefect of Orellana province in eastern Ecuador. <snip>

The government said the violence must end before talks can begin, but Ecuadorean Interior Minister Mauricio Gandara said he invited protest representatives to talk on Sunday in the capital city, Quito, free of the threat of being arrested. <snip>

Under the emergency, authorities can restrict freedom of movement and association and censor media in the area. <snip>

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N20428020.htm

[wli]

1. I wonder how typical this is

When protesters are arrested, do people protest their arrests and demand their release?

Wait a minute, we're supposed to have a constitutional right to free speech. And no one made a peep when Guantanamo on the Hudson went down.


No wonder the reich wing feels so free to kill us with impunity.

[bemildred]

2. It's going to be interesting.

I don't think the protestors are going to cave, and oil infrastructure is a piece of cake to sabotage. I'm just waiting to see if the military will fire on the protestors again, or realize who their true friends and compatriots are. I took the Defense Minister bailing out as a good sign.