Ecuador reaches truce with oil protesters

QUITO, Ecuador — Ecuador’s military and Napo province officials brokered a truce early Thursday, bringing a temporary end to violent protests that have interrupted the flow of crude in the nation’s two main oil pipelines.

“After these recent events in our province we have come to believe as authorities that it is time to make a decision … to declare a truce,” Gina San Miguel, Napo’s regional governor, told reporters.

The truce announced near dawn Thursday followed six hours of negotiations between army Gen. Gonzalo Meza, government Undersecretary Maria del Carmen Estupinan and a delegation of local officials in the village of El Chaco, 80 miles (130 kilometers) east of Quito.

President Alfredo Palacio declared a state of emergency in the zone Tuesday, a day after protesters raided state-owned Petroecuador’s Salado pumping station, 45 miles (70 kilometers) east of Quito, shutting the pipeline down for a day.

AP