Indigenous Cabinet members were forced this week to accept a 39 percent fuel price increase and a 25 percent rise in bus fares, after winning their fight against the increase of bottled cooking gas prices from US $1.60 to $5.60. It is expected that the poor will be affected most by the rising gas prices and indigenous groups are threatening massive protests. Fifty-six percent of the Ecuadorian population and more than eighty percent of indigenous Ecuadorians live in poverty. The indigenous federation CONAIE pledges to continue its influence in government measures to protect these people. Indigenous movements are experiencing more power recently due to the appointments of former activists Luis Macas as Minister of Agriculture and Nina Pacari as Minister of Foreign Relations. Both politicians are active in Indigenous affairs and hope to keep the Gutierrez administration in check.
