Ecuador Oil Workers Block Road to Field

QUITO, Ecuador – About 100 subcontracted oil workers blocked a road leading to one of Ecuador’s main oil fields Thursday as a state of emergency declared by President Alfredo Palacio to end the strike stretched into a second day.

Ecuador’s oil production slowly crept up Thursday as some striking workers began returning to their jobs, faced with an ultimatum to end their strike by Friday or lose their contracts.

Soldiers guarded the Sachas oil field, in Sucumbios province, 195 kilometers (120 miles) east of the capital, Quito, which was pumping below normal capacity. But the protesters maintained a roadblock on the far side of a bridge outside the facility.

Palacio decreed the state of emergency late Tuesday night, suspending constitutional rights in Sucumbios, Orellana, and Napo provinces after a strike by about 4,000 workers from companies contracted by state-run Petroecuador.

AP