QUITO—By dented trucks, buses and old footpaths called llaqui-ñan, 10,000 Ecuadoran indigenous people converged on Quito in late January. On their backs, multicolored fabrics bound infants, tools and pots. Kinsfolk back home blocked every major road and fought more clubs and tear gas than anyone remembered. It was possibly the most significant of three uprisings in the last decade. After ten days of struggle, the Red Cross reported four dead (others say seven), 80 injured, 900 arrested and huge losses in trade. President Gustavo Noboa conceded and signed a 23-point accord on February 7. The deal reduces the price of domestic gas, freezes gasoline prices, gives transportation discounts to students, elderly, and disabled and suggests that Ecuador's indigenous population (40% of the total) could engender a qualitative shift. The deal also frees and drops charges against 500 activists still jailed, indemnifies the killed and injured, and blasts Ecuador's role in Plan Colombia.




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