NYT: Ecuador's Leader Flees and Vice President Replaces Him

[Merlin]

Ecuador's Leader Flees and Vice President Replaces Him
By JUAN FORERO
Published: April 21, 2005

BOGOTÁ, Colombia, April 20 - President Lucio Gutiérrez of Ecuador fled his presidential palace on Wednesday after the Congress, meeting in special session, voted to remove him. The Congress then swore in Vice President Alfredo Palacio, a 66-year-old cardiologist, to replace Mr. Gutiérrez, 48, a former army colonel who had faced mounting street protests against what critics called an illegal overhaul of the Supreme Court.

Mr. Gutiérrez, who took office in January 2003, became the third president since 1997 to be ousted from power in the small but oil-rich Andean country, which has close economic ties to the United States. In 1997, Abdalá Bucaram was declared mentally unfit to govern and fled into exile. In 2000, President Jamil Mahuad was ousted in a coup supported by Mr. Gutiérrez, then an army colonel.

Mr. Gutiérrez, who had run for president as a populist friend of the poor, lost much of his public support almost as soon as he took office. Ecuadoreans were increasingly dissatisfied with his austere economic policies, which had produced a 6 percent growth rate in 2004 but also hardships for ordinary citizens.

But it was Mr. Gutiérrez's role in twice dismissing the Supreme Court, most recently last Friday, that helped create a firestorm he could not survive. An interim court installed by Mr. Gutiérrez's allies had cleared former President Bucaram of corruption charges, permitting his return to Quito earlier this month.

more...

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/21/international/americas/21ecuador.html

[mirandapriestly]

1. This is what "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" was about

The country owes so much to the IMF that they can't take care of their own people, which is exactly what the international corporations want, now they own the country and their oil fields. The uprisings were probably CIA created or the wealthier Ecuador residents who work for the large corporations.

[seemslikeadream]

2. Ecuadorean president seeks asylum after ousting

Last Updated Thu, 21 Apr 2005 08:01:33 EDT
CBC News
QUITO, ECUADOR - The president of Ecuador sought political asylum in Brazil's embassy overnight Wednesday, hours after the nation's Congress removed him from office.

Congress voted to remove Lucio Gutierrez after days of street protests in the South American nation of 13.2 million people.

President Lucio Gutierrez seen on the balcony of Government Palace in Quito. (AP Photo)
Gutierrez becomes the third Ecuadorean leader to be pushed out of office in the last decade.

The 100 members of Congress used a clause in the constitution allowing legislators to remove a president for "abandonment of the position," arguing that Gutierrez had not faithfully carried out the responsibilities of the presidency.
http://www.cbc.ca/storyview/MSN/world/national/2005/04/21/ecuador-president-050421.html

Thanks chlamor for posting this last night
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3517519

[VirginiaDem]

4. This is a sad day--I lived in Ecuador for a year and a half and

I've studied the country a bit. Not sad because Gutierrez was great or anything like that. Simply sad because Ecuador's democracy is such a sham--coups are a dime a dozen.

[bemildred]

3. Ecuador president removed

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Plumes of smoke rose over parts of the city as rival groups of protesters ran riot. At one point anti-government demonstrators broke into the Congress building, smashing windows and chairs in the chamber.

The state prosecutor’s office said it ordered Gutiérrez’s arrest for two deaths on Tuesday and yesterday during the demonstrations.

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The armed forces, traditional arbiters of power, abandoned Gutiérrez, who had refused to quit. "We have been forced to withdraw support from the president in order to ensure public safety," said the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Victor Hugo Rosero. Palacio later met with top military brass.

Thousands of Gutiérrez supporters armed with machetes and guns had driven on buses into the capital yesterday, but were met by crowds of anti-government protesters who tried to block their path downtown

MercoPress