Ecuador’s Indigenous Movement Blames Executive for Dialogue End

"The Government breaks the dialogue confirming its authoritarianism, lack of will and incapacity. We hold Guillermo Lasso responsible for the consequences of his warmongering policy. We demand respect for our maximum leader. Lasso does not break with Leonidas; he breaks with the people," said Conaie on its Twitter account.

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In a message to the nation, Lasso announced on Tuesday that his government will not sit again at the dialogue table with Iza and that he is ready to address the demands of the indigenous population and provide practical solutions because he knows that the State forgot the countryside and its communities for 40 years.

The president added that he would resume the dialogue when there are guarantees and with legitimate representatives of the peoples and nationalities.

The Ecuadorian president's announcement was made after an early morning attack on a military convoy transporting fuel from the municipality of Shushufindi, in the Amazonian province of Sucumbíos (east), to the Ishpingo-Tambococha-Tiputini (ITT) oil block.

As a consequence of the attack, one soldier died of wounds caused by pellets, a material that is not used by the military or police, according to the Joint Command of the Armed Forces.

Seven soldiers and five police officers were also injured in the attack.

Lasso said 100 people attacked the convoy.

In the morning, government delegates who did not attend the second meeting agreed to continue the dialogue initiated on Monday afternoon with leaders of the Conaie, the National Confederation of Indigenous, Peasant and Black Organizations of Ecuador (Fenocin) and the Federation of Evangelical Indigenous People of Ecuador (Feine).

Iza and the presidents of Fenocin and Feine, Eustaquio Toala and Gary Espinoza, attended the meeting site in downtown Quito.

About the incident in Shushufindi, Iza said that the government seeks to position a wrong message and pointed out that members of the public forces perpetrated the attack against their Amazonian comrades (comuneros) who were in struggle.

According to the leftist environmentalist organization Acción Ecológica, the soldier's death was provoked by the intention of the uniformed officers to open the closed oil wells.

Acción Ecológica added that the confrontation lasted 4 hours until the military convoy managed to pass fuel to reactivate oil wells.

Iza requested that an independent commission be formed to investigate the events.