Negotiations between the indigenous federation CONAIE and the Lasso administration broke off again on Wednesday afternoon after a three-hour session at the Universidad Central. Both delegations left without a joint statement, and the federation announced that the road blockades on the Panamericana Norte would continue into a fifth day.
The dispute is, on its face, about the price of diesel. It has become, in practice, a broader negotiation over how much weight indigenous communities will carry in a national budget that has cut subsidies twice in eighteen months.
We will not be moved by the language of crisis. The subsidies are not the cause of the deficit. The conversation has to expand.
Officials close to the talks said the government has proposed targeted vouchers as a compromise — a position the federation rejected at the first session, and which has not appreciably moved this week. Both sides have indicated a willingness to return to the table on Friday.
A senior CONAIE delegate, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the next round would be shorter, and that the federation expected a written counter-proposal in hand before the meeting began.