The Indian population of Equador are fighting back against the government’s proposals to allow companies the rights to prospect oil and minerals on their lands. Deaths occurred in clashes with police. The President called their protests “infantile” but perhaps he ought to remember that the Indian community had a marked effect on the election of presidents in 2000 and 2005.
While socialism is becoming a growing force in Latin America in contrast to trends in western countries where, as in Germany, moves have been to the right in spite of the massive lessons of the collapse of Capitalism, clearly there is still much to be done to support indigenous populations against exploitation bt multinationals.