The mediation of the Catholic Church “was decisive in building consensus and making compromises on both sides”reports the site What ! And despite “some last-minute disagreements among some indigenous leaders before the text was signed”the parties were finally able “declare the end of the national strike”.
decision “was welcomed with joy in a country on the edge, where the majority of the population wanted to return to work normally”assure The world. The vast protest movement against the high cost of living, punctuated by violence, paralyzed the capital Quito for 18 days, seriously disrupting transport, communications and the supply of food markets.
Within the hour following the announcement of the agreement, “indigenous people could be seen marching through the streets of Quito with banners, singing songs celebrating the triumph of the social movement”to the sound of “vuvuzelas and truck horns”testifies The universe.
Work group
The agreement signed on Thursday provides in particular for an additional drop of 5 cents (of dollars) in the price of fuel, in addition to the drop of 10 cents already obtained during the demonstrations, i.e. a total drop of 15 cents – far from the 40 cents demanded by the demonstrators.
The government of Guillermo Lasso has also pledged to revise two decrees regulating oil and mining extraction, to prevent its development. “in protected areas and ancestral territories” indigenous communities, or in the “archaeological areas”precise The Mercury.
“In addition, a working group, bringing together the government and indigenous representatives, has been created for a period of three months, in order to ensure the follow-up of the agreement”and to continue negotiations on outstanding claims, adds CNN’s Spanish site.
“It’s not a total victory, but you have to learn to recognize the triumphs achieved by the people when they take to the streets”said Leonidas Iza, head of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities (Conaie) and leader of the protest movement. “He considered that the measures obtained in the agreement constitute a beginning of the improvement of the living conditions of Ecuadorians”according Trade.
The indigenous leader also recalled the advances wrested from the government during the two weeks of demonstrations, such as “increased aid” or “the declaration of the state of emergency for the public health system”or “the increase in the budget for intercultural education”which aims to “promote, enhance and revitalize the different cultures and languages of the nationalities and indigenous peoples of the country”observe Infobae.
Broken promises
All signatories to the agreement – baptized “agreement for peace” – insisted that the unity of the country, deeply divided, must now prevail. “There are points on which we do not agree, but we had to accept it to pacify the country”acknowledged M. Iza.
President Lasso meanwhile welcomed on Twitter an agreement allowing “to achieve the supreme value to which we all aspire: peace in our country. The strike is over. Now we will work together to transform this peace into progress, well-being and opportunity for all”.
But the road to reconciliation will be long, Judge Clarionwhile Guillermo Lasso, saved by the divisions within the opposition, escaped dismissal earlier this week. “The majority of the population is not satisfied with the banker Lasso”writes the Argentine daily. “And not because he is a right-wing conservative, but because she considers that he has not fulfilled his promise of a better country, less corrupt, with more jobs and better incomes”.