Latinnews Daily - 23 December 2003

The meeting produced a clear set of resolutions. It demanded that the government fulfil its agreements with banana workers, health workers and teachers; The meeting also rejected the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA); the government's foreign policy agenda and the privatisation process. It also called for Gutiérrez to step down for having betrayed his election mandate, and to analyse a proposal for an alternative government. Gilberto Talahua, director of Pachakutik, the political arm of Conaie, said that the objective was not to oust Gutiérrez in a popular uprising but to force structural changes. The groups will meet again on 14 January 2004 to refine a course of action.

While none of these resolutions are particularly new, it is the first time that such a disparate grouping has signed up to them. The broad nature of the 'new alliance' suggests that if the government plays its cards right it should be able to create internal division. This is already apparent within the indigenous groups. Although the president of Conaie, Leonidas Iza was at pains to deny that there was any split, the absence of the large indigenous group Federación de Organizaciones Campesinas, Indí­genas y Negras (Fenocin), which held a meeting of its own yesterday, indicates otherwise. Fenocin formulated a more radical agenda calling for a permanent mobilisation against the government from early January.

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