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Agreement to End Oil Strike in Ecuador Close to Be Reached

Posted on: Thursday, 25 August 2005, 09:00 CDT

Agreement to end oil strike in Ecuador close to be reached

QUITO, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) -- A settlement to a 10-day strike in Ecuador's two largest oil-producing provinces is about to be reached, except that the demand by protester leaders that they not be prosecuted has been turned down by the government.

Interior and Police Minister Mauricio Gandara said Wednesday the agenda of the negotiations between the protesters and the government as well as private oil companies started from Sunday are completed and that now it is up to the companies to "culminate" the agreements.

The demands the negotiators have agreed to include the paving of a 160-km road in the two provinces by the petroleum companies and the increase of the fiscal quota issued by the State for the two provinces. The money would come from the taxes paid by the petroleum firms, which will be increased from 2-3 percent to 16 percent.

However, "the last demand, which is that the oil companies promise not to prosecute any of the leaders in the two provinces, has not been answered," Gandara told TV Channel 8 of Quito.

He said he cannot accept the demand because it would be tantamount to granting impunity, but added that if the 10 foreign companies operating in the two provinces want to accept it, "they have the full right to do so."

Protesters, who demand the oil companies invest more in the poor Amazon communities where they operate, crippled Ecuador's oil industry last week by dynamiting pipelines and vandalizing pumping equipment at installations of the state oil firm Petroecuador.

On Saturday, authorities and social leaders of the provinces of Orellana and Sucumbios called for a "truce" to the general strike that started last Monday.

On Monday, the "truce" was declared after the release of some 40 detained protestors to allow the negotiations, but the region remained in a state of emergency and under military control.

The strike has been a serious blow to Ecuador's economy, which is critically dependent on oil. The national authorities said the lack of crude exports due to the strike will lead to losses for 500 million US dollars.

Source: Xinhua News Agency - CEIS

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