QUITO, Ecuador — The indigenous group leading mass protests in Ecuador on Friday rejected an offer of direct talks from Ecuadoran President Lenin Moreno to end days of deadly protests against fuel price hikes. "The dialogue that he's seeking lacks credibility," the indigenous umbrella group CONAIE said in a statement, adding that it would negotiate with the government only when a decree to remove fuel subsidies has been "repealed." Moreno earlier Friday proposed the direct talks as the protests stretched into a 10th day. In their statement, the indigenous group replied that "the dialogue that the national government says it promotes... is based on one of the worst massacres in the history of Ecuador." The end of the fuel subsidies has meant that prices shot up by as much as 120 percent from October 3.

Source: Philippine Star October 12, 2019 01:41 UTC