Ecuadorian President Ousted
Congress removed embattled President Lucio Gutierrez from office Wednesday after a week of escalating street protests against him and swore in Vice President Alfredo Palacio as Ecuador's new leader.
A special session made up of opposition legislators in the 100-seat unicameral Congress took less than an hour to reach the decision by a vote of 62-0, in hopes of ending a crisis that was quickly spiraling out of control with the threat of violent clashes between Gutierrez supporters and opponents.
Congress President Cyntia Viteri swore in Palacio as president after the vote, in keeping with the country's Constitution.
Gutierrez, 48, a cashiered army colonel elected in 2002 with an in-your-face governing style, has faced growing street protests demanding his ouster since last week. The demonstrators accused him of trying to illegally control the three branches of government.
Gutierrez dissolved the Supreme Court on Friday to try to placate protests after his congressional allies in December fired most of the court's judges and named replacements sympathetic to his government. That move was widely viewed as violating the Constitution.
Acting Attorney General Cecilia Armas issued an arrest order for Gutierrez. She asked Gen. Marco Cuvero, named Wednesday as the new head of the national police, to arrest Gutierrez for the violent crackdown on demonstrators in recent days.
Firefighters were battling a blaze set by demonstrators at the Ministry of Social Welfare. Earlier Wednesday a masked gunman fired a pistol on protesters from a window on one of the upper floors. TV images showed protesters later looting ministry offices.
TV images showed other masked gunmen firing pistols on the street near the ministry earlier in the day.
Adm. Victor Hugo Rosero, head of the joint chiefs of staff of the armed forces, announced immediately after the vote that the military had withdrawn its support of Gutierrez. Hundreds of soldiers who had set up a protective perimeter withdrew from the plaza in front of the palace.
An unidentified army official in combat gear said on television that Gutierrez and his wife, Congresswoman Ximena Bohorquez, had left the palace. Journalists did not see him leave, but a small helicopter with room for two passengers dropped down for a few minutes on a landing pad on the palace roof.
Television images showed hundreds of people forcing their way onto the military landing strip at Quito's international airport and blocking a twin-engine plane from taking off. A helicopter parked nearby appeared to be the same kind that landed on the palace heliport earlier Wednesday. The airport was closed for security reasons.
Panama's Ambassador Mateo Castillero denied unconfirmed radio reports that Gutierrez had requested political asylum in Panama.
Legislators based the decision on a clause in the Constitution that allows Congress to remove a president for "abandonment of the position." Congressman Ramiro Rivera made the motion, arguing that since Gutierrez had not complied faithfully with the responsibilities of the presidency, Congress should declare it vacant.
The measure avoids a drawn-out impeachment process and is similar to what Congress did in 1997 when it dismissed President Abdala Bucaram for "mental incapacity."
"Congress in representation of the Ecuadorean people has proceeded...to declare Col. Lucio Gutierrez in abandonment of the position of constitutional president. Therefore, he has been dismissed," declared Viteri, who was elected to the position of president of Congress at the beginning of the special session Wednesday.
Rosero said the military could not "remain indifferent" to the sentiments of the Ecuadorean people. "In this scenario of anarchy the military high command...has been forced to make the hard decision of withdrawing support from the constitutional president in order to protect public safety and recover peach and tranquility," he said at a news conference.