Da: "Nello Margiotta" A: Oggetto: Fw: Mass Strikes In Ecuador] Data: sabato 20 luglio 2002 21.43 Subject: Mass Strikes In Ecuador Date: 19 Jul 2002 03:07:13 -0700 http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c =StoryFT&cid=1027002878087&p=1012571727176 Financial Times July 18, 2002 Ecuador crippled by mass strikes By Nicholas Moss in Quito Published: July 18 2002 23:13 | Last Updated: July 18 2002 23:13 Ecuador was crippled on Thursday by strikes with protesters from various sectors threatening further action. Government negotiators appeared unable to avoid strikes running into their third week on Monday and the possible suspension of emergency returns to work. The coastal province of Esmeraldas, home to the Andean nation's main oil refinery, was paralysed by marches and blocked roads. Protesters, who want the central government to recognise the province's claims in a territorial dispute, left burning tyres on the airport runway, virtually sealing it off from the outside. Instead of seeing people streaming into the province, whose beaches would normally be full of tourists now, the province had to scale down production at the state oil refinery because tankers could not leave by road to dispatch petrol or domestic cooking gas to the country. Rodolfo Barniol, interior minister, said the province's demands were in the hands of Congress, and that the government would not interfere except to maintain public order. Meanwhile, in a hospital near the Amazonian city of Tena, a 22-year-old pregnant woman died from haemorrhages on Wednesday in the absence of medical attention because the shift doctor had left to join strike protests. Some 14,000 national health workers have demanded salary increases dating back to 2000. Only emergencies were being attended to by the public hospitals while nurses and doctors waited to see if the government would pay the $11m it owed. "The president, the ministers and Congress have had salary increases. We want our raises or we will maintain the strike to the ultimate consequences," said Carlos Gordillo, president of the Ecuadorean Federation of Health Workers. He warned that in the absence of a solution next week, the federation would vote on a motion to suspend emergency services. Other provinces threatened strikes to push for central government funds. In Santo Domingo, Ecuador's third largest city, 1,000 people marched to demand the creation of a separate province, threatening to radicalise actions next week.