[ecuador] press release CONAIE (indigenous movement) 16.1 Date: Tue, 18 Jan 2000 17:57:14 +0100 From: el desaparecido International Press Release from the Confederation of Indigenous Peoples of Ecuador (CONAIE) Quito - January 16th 2000 The National Parliament of the Peoples of Ecuador, democratically constituted with the participation of 21 Provincial parliaments and innumerable community, county and neighbourhood parliaments, has directly assumed the control of national sovereignty in order to save the Republic of Ecuador from the process of national dissolution started by the decision of Jamil Mahuad to renounce monetary sovereignty by announcing the substition of the sucre, our historical form of currency, for the (American) dollar. The decision to dollarize the economy is the latest attack against the peoples economy and the country's system of production executed by Mahuad with the sinister intent to protect a corrupt "bankocracy" and to transform Ecuador into an enclave for financial speculation and money- laundering. The dollarization implies the destruction of the system of production, the bankrupcy of industry and the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs, and increasing expropriation of the tiny parcels of land that belong to the indigenous and rural people of the country. This colonial system is impossible to apply plus incoming dividends represent barely 15% of the Gross National Product, consequentially Mahuads obsession contains the reduction which will asphyxiate the country's system of production. After a series of indigenous uprising, rural campesinos strikes and workers general strikes none of their legitimate aspirations have been attended to or resolved. Instead his (Mahuads) privatisation programs in industrial petroleum, social security, telephone and electricity and his apparent course to destroy the rights of indigenous peoples, rural campesinos and workers has intensified. Bank deposits have been frozen and their devolution has been proposed for 10 years from now, at the same time as rampant corruption in the thousands of millions of dollars by bankers. In face of this situation the National Parliament of the People of Ecuador has convened a National Meeting on the Defence of our Sovereignty to replace Mahuad and the legislative and judicial powers and to install the sovereign exercise of power for the people and to found a Pluri-national state that will definitively eliminate the secular oppression of the majority indigenous population. The National Parliament of the People of Ecuador calls on all peoples organisations of the world and to all who are taking care of our world to come together in solidarity and actively defend the legitimate right of the people of Ecuador to directly exercise their sovereignty, demanding the public forces of Ecuador who are observing this exercise of the peoples sovereignty to not repress the peaceful mobilisation of millions of Ecuadorians and to subordinate themselves to the legitimate sovereignty that our people are asking for. Equally we implore them to recognise the obvious legitimacy of the National Parliament of the People of Ecuador and to demand (foreign) governments immediatly recognize us (the National Parliament). Attentively Antonio Vargas President of the National Parliament of the People of Ecuador More information from CONAIE The peoples uprising continues to increase due to governmental repression and lies The Confederation of Indigenous Peoples of Ecuador (CONAIE) wishes to issue an alert to all that the Government of Ecuador has started a mis-information campaign through the media to divide and restrict the advances of the popular-indigenous mobilisation. It is not true that Antonio Vargas has announced a stop in the mobilisation. The mobilisation will continue without stopping until it has achieved its objectives for the people of Ecuador. Without exception, all of the provinces, in addition to the actions that the mestizo population in the Coastal and Sierran regions have begun to signal their solidarity: markets have begun to close, the petroleum strike has begun and there have been road closures in the littoral and Sierran regions. Actions have been realised since midnight on Saturday as foreseen with large mobilisation s in Cannier, Azure, Nap, Moron Santiago y Bolivar.