The uprising called for by the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador, or CONAIE, has been rejected by many indigenous organizations, who have instead opted to participate in the dialogue initatied by the national government to reach a consensus on wealth redistribution and concerns regarding the state of the nation.
CONAIE recently announced it is preparing for a national “uprising” for Aug. 10, and said they will join the national strike planned for Aug. 13 organized by trade unionists and opposition leaders.
“We do not need to sit down again to analyze our demands. We have had enough time to do this, and to debate, but we are insisting on marching. At this point, our organization in the CONAIE assembly has said no to the dialogue,” said President of CONAIE Jorge Herrera to the press.
Franklin Columba of the National Confederation of Campesino, Indigenous and Black Organizations (FENOCIN) believes that uprising of CONAIE is not representative of the stance most indigenous organizations have taken, who are willing to enter the national dialogue and meet with government officials to make their concerns heard and work together in a constructive way.
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“We agree to participate in the dialogue,”Columba told teleSUR English. “We have already had a meeting with Minister Patiño, along with two other national organizations, and there we made our points of view known, and what we want to move towards.”
Some analysts have signaled that CONAIE is forming alliances with right-wing factions who seek regime change, describing their political position as “reactionary,” which opposes the projects of the national government.
CONAIE has announced that any leader that doesn’t participate in the uprising will be sanctioned, and that they are against the inheritance tax and capital gains bill, which seek to redistribute wealth.
Analyst Werner Vasquez, whose worked closely with indigenous organizations in the past, told teleSUR English, “CONAIE is forming alliances with the right, they are having meetings, and this is going against their own ideology. Before, they would always say that they could not have any type of relationship with the right, because they represent the historical repression and exploitation of the indigenous population. So it is very difficult to understand how these alliances are being formed. And I think that they are meeting with whoever is opposed to the Citizen's Revolution.”
While CONAIE will be marching with other members of the opposition, plans for an indigenous assembly are underway, which will be organized by those indigenous factions willing to engage in debate on the national project and redistribution of wealth in the country.
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