One such company feeling the effect is Flortec, a flower growers co-operative of 18 farms. Some flower growers have even been forced to use helicopters to get roses to the US, Ecuador's largest flower market. Various chambers of commerce, as well as church groups, have offered to mediate between the protesters and the government to facilitate an end to the crisis. The government will now have to sit down and negotiate with Indian leaders. Compromise on both sides is a must if this deadlocked situation is to be resolved.
Repression never works in the long term.
But compromise may not come swiftly. Ecuador is sharply divided regionally between the business-oriented coast, represented by Guayaquil, and the political highlands, where Quito is located. Mr Noboa's government is largely drawn from the lowlands. Many analysts doubt whether coastal leaders have the know how to deal with Indians from the interior. This, combined with scepticism among indigenous groups about a political system that has rarely served them justly, could point to protracted and difficult negotiations.