Ecuador: A Country in a "State of Emergency"
From a country where the government has declared a "State of Emergency" during the day, and "state of siege" in the night, both part of the same decree, which has been declared on two occasions in less than 8 months of the Palacios Government, due to what the ministers and the president of Ecuador have called "national chaos".
To be in a "State of Emergency" means, that we loose all of our constitutional rights as citizens, all forms of social expression, free movement in the country, and social meetings are prohibited. Because of this, the assembly of CONAIE was persecuted, while the assemblies of the Chamber of Producers are able to conduct their gatherings in a totally normal fashion.
The state of emergency was declared following 2 weeks of the country being paralyzed. Now that it has been almost 3 weeks, we are in a state of emergency and the people remain in the streets. There are 106 people in jail, 4 of them are journalists from alternative media such as Indymedia and Agency of the People Standing Up.
According to economists, the mobilizations have resulted in $200 million in losses to the country. This information is known by everyone, even by our most ignorant congress people. These same people can't even imagine thinking about noticing or addressing Violations of; Human Rights, Collective Rights, Rights of Children and Adolescents, Women's Rights or Freedom of the Press. All of this because the government doesn't want to hear about the struggle against the FTA, which is to struggle against the CADUCO system and for the construction or our own form of life which is based in sovereign solidarity.
During the protests convened by CONAIE, there were two Cañaris women who are pregnant and they were violently assaulted. They remain hospitalized in intensive care. In the provinces of Cañar and Chimborazo, communities were invaded and houses searched, looking for leaders to put in jail. In Latacunga a one year old child is in the hospital after being nearly asphyxiated and three others are wounded. In Quito, one person is in a coma, in Otavalo 3 are people in intensive care in the hospital, two are seriously wounded from rubber bullets, while another compañero lost his left eye.
In all of the provinces where there have been mobilizations, people have received impacts from tear gas canisters in their bodies- as an example, in one community, Peguche, Otavalo, there are twenty people with injuries from blows to the body, as a result of having the tear gas canisters fired directly at them. Six had rubber bullets fired directly at their hearts. Other communities from 9 provinces have suffered equally despicable treatment, in come cases a thousand times worse.
The staying power of the people and the Indigenous Nationalities, of the students, Campesin@s, the workers, men women, children and all of the people of conscience who have stayed in the streets struggling against the FTA and for Life are derided by people like; the ‘great' analyst Jorge Ortiz from Teleamanozas, the Editor of the Diario de Hoy in Imbabura, Doctor Marcelo Lara Guzmán, and Geora de Jinata from Guayaquil. They have called it a mobilization which comes from savage instincts, a movement of hypocrites, racists, people who are anti-development of the arrogant minority, sowers of division; all statements made by people who become desperate when they see the people in the struggle.
Why?
Because in addition to us causing this ‘national chaos' we are responsible for a much larger chaos which no medium of communication has dared to report... All of Ecuador now knows that the FTA exists, and that we need debates to make the negotiations transparent prior to signing this treaty. In addition, the people have taken power to demand a popular referendum, but more importantly because:
“Latin America is awakening from this long deep sleep and is opening her eyes in a new way so that there will be justice and equality for all.”
— Antonio PukaLlakta, Peru
The communication media has no right to denigrate these diverse social expressions; the people will never be a minority; the police and soldiers need to join with the people to struggle in their defense, and stop taking orders from false patriots.
The government may go to the extreme of declaring a state in dictatorship, but the people will not be silent; Even if all of Ecuador is jailed, the struggle continues, because the thinking of the people is not limited to economic accounts. We think of life with all of its elements in an integrated manner.
Posted by PACHA TERAN on Indymedia Ecuador