* Ecuador’s agriculture minister,
Tanly Vera; deputy interior minister,
Homero Castanier; and the governor Guayas state,
Vicente Taiano, have begun negotiations with agricultural leaders in western Ecuador in response to recent protests by the sector. Protesters are demanding fixed domestic prices for rice, bananas, and other products, to counter low market rates. Roads were temporarily blocked in the city of Guayaquil before the dialogue was announced. The protest was organised by a number of organisations, including the Movimiento Nacional Campesino peasant farmer movement and Ecuador’s umbrella indigenous association (Conaie). President
Guillermo Lasso’s swift decision to support dialogue with the protesters – the first time his government has been forced to negotiate with a protest movement – demonstrates the risk that festering resentment among Ecuador’s agricultural workers could pose for his administration. The dialogue process began the same day that Lasso announced the government is seeking credit from multilateral lenders to reactivate key economic sectors, including agriculture, following the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.
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