Ecuador's government and Indigenous leaders signed a deal on Thursday to cut fuel prices and end cost-of-living protests that partly paralyzed Ecuador for 18 straight days.

The agreement, mediated by the Catholic Church and signed in Quito, provides for a five-cent-per-gallon reduction in the price of diesel and gasoline on top of a 10-cent cut already conceded by the government.

Fast-rising fuel prices were the catalyst for the protests called by the powerful Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities and marked by burning roadblocks and sometimes violent clashes with the security forces.