This is a callout from the anti-FTAA campaign based in Quito, Ecuador. Recognising that bilateral free trade agreements with the United States have replaced the FTAA as the new and immediate threat for the Andean and Central American nations, we call out for an international network of solidarity to fight neoliberalist politics and mobilize on April 17 international day of peasant struggles.

For Life:
¡El Campo no Aguanta Más!

From the valleys and mountains of the Andes, the peoples of the land make a call from a continental and world-wide mobilization.

The Ecuadorian Peasant Confederation CONFEUNASSC-CNC, member of the CLOC (Coordinator of Latin American Organizations of the Countryside) and Vía Campesina, committed to the continental Campaign in struggle against the FTAA, is making a callout to join forces with the Days of Resistance and Struggle against the neo-FTAA, known as the bilateral Free Trade Agreement, to take place in Quito on the 17 of April, the International day of Peasant Struggle.

In Québec, Cancún, and Miami we have achieved victories in favor of the sovereignty of our nations and the unity of our peoples. The fathers of neoliberalism know that united we are too strong, and have thus taken the new strategy of “divide and conquer�, opting to push forward the bilateral Free Trade Agreements.

The entire American continent is on the menu for the government of the United States. NAFTA, the Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico, was the apéritif. Now the appetizer is on the table in the form of the CAFTA with the Central American nations. The main course is to be ourselves, the Andean Region, and if they can manage it, Argentina, Brazil, and Venezuela will be for dessert.

Ecuador has been a country full of resistance, which, like other Andean countries has continued to resist the blows of neoliberalism. For many years we have not only resisted, but we have reclaimed and constructed alternative ways of life in solidarity and minga which guarantee the autonomy of our peoples.

The Bolivian people, in a social rebellion, suffered the loss of 77 lives defending their identities and sovereignty, overthrowing the president and protecting their natural resources. Our Colombian neighbours live immersed in a state of repression and violence exacerbated and regionalized by Plan Colombia, a project initiated by the imperialism of the United States administration. In the case of Ecuador, the national government has proclaimed itself the closest ally of the United States, and this is proving to be true : in the last two months, the government has arrested, attempted assassination, and assassinated various social leaders, and its audacity has reached the point of censoring the media, violating the right to freedom of opinion.

The Days of Resistance in Quito will be days of struggle and of celebration ; days of reflection, analysis and learning, of cultural and artistic demonstration as well as political protest. We will be thousands of living beings, prevailing from all the corners of the planet in order to make our voices heard, to say loud and strong :

Yes! To Life
No! To the neo-FTAA
No! To the Bilateral Free-Trade Agreements

¿HOW CAN YOU GET INVOLVED?

There are lots of ways to participate in the continental Days of Action:

• Plan a solidarity action in your community
• Come to help with the mobilization in Quito, or with the closest solidarity mobilization to you
• Help to provide the resources necessary for the mobilizations
• Organize public education initiatives, and spread news before, during, and after the demonstrations and Days of Action
• Prepare mediums of response in the case that there is repression against the mobilizations (this can include sending faxes, e-mails, makign calls, actions/vigils at target locations, working with the media and publicity, etc.)

Contacts: ssc-cnc@campesinos-fmlgt.org.ec ; gorgonzola@resist.ca