Protests held in three provinces

Along the coast, residents blocked roads and practically shut down transportation and commerce from Monday to Friday to demand road improvements and other projects. Losses for the productive sector were estimated in about $2 million per day. The protests in an area seen as a bastion of support for Gutiérrez were also a sign of rejection for the new administration. The protest were meant to be only temporary as a “warning” to Palacio when they began on Monday, but some defiant words from Interior Minister Mauricio Gándara led local authorities to declare it permanent. After insisting that local authorities at least call a temporary halt to the protests, the government agreed to provide at projects worth about $62 million to the province through 2006.

In the Amazon region, protests in which local residents blocked access to some oil fields in the central Amazon region near Shushufindi began Monday and ended Wednesday night. The residents of the poor region, who demand work and infrastructure projects, have agreed not to take over any more oil wells. Another negotiation session with the government is set for Monday. The state oil company so far agreed to hire 70 local residents to work as janitors and guards. Petroecuador failed to produce 2,454 barrels during the three days of strikes, which affected seven Petroecuador wells. The protests also blocked some access road used by private companies Occidental Petroleum Co., Repsol YPF, Petrobras and EnCana Corp., but the companies have not confirmed or not if their production was affected.

To the north of Quito in the province of Imbabura, indigenous residents blocked part of the Panamerican Highway beginning Monday afternoon to demand a faster execution of a potable water project. The government agreed to their demands and the road blocks were removed Wednesday.

While a province-wide protest in Manabí absorbed most of the government’s attention last week, strike also took place in the northern-central mountain region and in the Amazon. In all three cases, local residents were demanding that the national government complete infrastructure projects and other works. In some cases, protestors were demanding that the government fulfill promises made by the previous administration of Lucio Gutiérrez. The Palacio administration was able to negotiate in all three cases to lift the strikes. These will probably be the first of many to come, however, as communities continue to demand that sometimes unrealistic offers made by the Gutiérrez administration be fulfilled. The Palacio administration has charged that the protests are being organized by Gutiérrez supporters only trying to make trouble for the new officials.

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