Quito, Ecuador – Negotiators seeking to end a 10-day demonstration that idled Ecuador’s oil industry have made progress, but the demand by the leaders of the protests that they not be prosecuted remains unsolved, Interior Minister Mauro Gandara said Wednesday.
Agreement has been “virtually reached” on the other demands made of international oil companies by the organizers of the protests led by local government officials, Gandara said. The demands included repairing highways and building other infrastructure and medical facilities in the two jungle provinces, Orellana and Sucumbios.
“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 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.” The protests repeatedly turned violent, forcing Ecuador to halt exports.
The protests have struck a serious blow to Ecuador’s economy. The country produces an average of 535,000 barrels of crude oil a day between state and private companies, and before the strike, it exported 455,000 barrels a day. Oil accounts for about 43 percent of the government’s budget.
