Update on the State of Emergency and Indigenous Protests in Ecuador:

The Ecuadorian president has given the military sweeping powers to "restore order" throughout the country.

The military has surrounded CONAIE offices and is seeking arrest of all of the organization's leaders, who are now in hiding. Increased repression is feared.

Four Indigenous protesters have been killed in the highlands, and there are uncomfirmed reports that 10 people were killed by police while peacefully blocking a road to an oil well in Lago Agrio in the Amazon.

Please send letters urging the Ecuadorian government to negotiate a peaceful resolution to the conflict, to immediately halt repression directed against CONAIE and other Indigenous groups and to respect Indigenous organizations just demands.

Address:
Sixto Duran Ballen, Presidente del Ecuador, Palacio Presidencial. Carcia Moreno, 1043, Quito-Ecuador Fax: (593-2) 580 735
with copies to: Luis Macas, Presidente CONAIE, Av. Granados 2553, Casilla 17-17-1235, Quito-Ecuador Fax: (593-2) 4422

(Written June 23, 1994 in Native-l by the South and Meso American Indian Information Center, saiic@igc.apc.org)