INDIGENOUS TO REGROUP, PROTESTS UNLIKELY NEXT WEEK

UNCLAS QUITO 000909 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM EC SUBJECT: INDIGENOUS TO REGROUP, PROTESTS UNLIKELY NEXT WEEK ¶1. (SBU) Summary: Both evangelical indigenous of the organization FEINE and indigenous of the CONAIE organization have told us that they will be meeting at the local level to evaluate the political and economic situation and decide on next steps. An Embassy police contact told us that the CONAIE organization does not have sufficient funds to stage another large-scale anti-free trade agreement (FTA) protest anytime soon. With FTA negotiations on hold, it is likely indigenous protests will also remain on hold for the time being. End Summary. ¶2. (SBU) Marco Murillo, president of indigenous evangelical group FEINE told PolOff on April 7 that his group would propose public debates on the FTA. Murillo feels that Ecuador is ill-prepared for the inevitable globalization that will affect Ecuador, he said. He said his group would be meeting the week of April 10 to evaluate the current political and economic situation. ¶3. (SBU) Santiago de la Cruz, vice president of Ecuador's largest indigenous organization CONAIE told PolOff on April 12 that this week would be spent celebrating Holy Week, with meetings to reorganize at the local level to be held the week of April 17. De La Cruz also told PolOff on April 7 that there has been no CONAIE coordination with FEINE. De La Cruz said they considered the GOE repressive in its reaction to the strikes. ¶4. (SBU) An Embassy contact within the Ecuadorian police intelligence division told us that while CONAIE leader Luis Macas would like to continue protesting in order to raise his profile in an election year, CONAIE was lacking funds to replicate its mobilizations of last month. Comment -------------- ¶5. (SBU) Due to a reported lack of funds and the current pause in FTA negotiations it is unlikely that indigenous protests will resume as soon as the week of April 17. However, this being an election year, indigenous are likely to want to continue attention-getting moves in the next months. BROWN