QUITO, Ecuador - Protesters from around Ecuador objecting to the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas began a weeklong march to the capital ahead of a FTAA summit to discuss the treaty.
Organizers of the protest marches, which set off on Monday from towns hundreds of kilometers (miles) from Quito, said they hoped thousands of people would join the demonstration.
The FTAA, which is scheduled to take effect in 2005, is a hemisphere-wide free trade zone that would group 34 nations into the world's biggest common market. A summit of business leaders and ministers from across the Americas to discuss the FTAA is expected to begin in Quito on Friday.
Protesters from the towns of Guayaquil, 270 kilometers (170 miles) southwest of Quito, Loja, 425 kilometers (260 miles) south of the capital, and Tulcan, 150 kilometers (90 miles) north of Quito, began marching on Monday to converge in the capital ahead of the meeting.
In Quito, indigenous leader Pedro de la Cruz said the FTAA will bring in a flood of imports that will destroy local production and jobs.
De la Cruz said he is presiding over the "Another America is Possible Forum," a meeting in Quito of representatives of some 40 organizations which object to the FTAA.
"We will fight for the dignity of the people — we denounce that the FTAA is a vehicle for North American multinationals," said Miriam Cabezas, the leader of a human rights group marching from Tulcan.
Events highlighting opposition to the FTAA summit began Sunday with an arts fair in Quito sponsored by groups against the trade agreement.
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