ECUADOR: NEW PRESIDENT ALFREDO PALACIO FACES DIFFICULT TASK AS PROTESTERS DEMAND EARLY ELECTIONS

Record ID: 442987

  • Title: ECUADOR: NEW PRESIDENT ALFREDO PALACIO FACES DIFFICULT TASK AS PROTESTERS DEMAND EARLY ELECTIONS
  • Date: 23rd April 2005
  • Summary: (W5) QUITO, ECUADOR (APRIL 21, 2005) (REUTERS) 1. SLV EXTERIOR PRESIDENTIAL PALACE/CROWD OF DEMONSTRATORS GATHERED IN FRONT; DEMONSTRATORS CHANTING 'CONGRESS OUT' ("AFUERA EL CONGRESO") IN PROTEST; MV WOMAN CHANTING; MV MAN YELLING, 'OUT WITH THE FREE TRADE AGREEMENT! GRINGOS GET OUT OF THE MANTA BASE.' (4 SHOTS) 0.22 2. MV INDIGENOUS GROUP PERFORMING CEREMONY AMONG PROTESTERS (3 SHOTS) 0.40 3. SLV ECUADOR PRESIDENT ALFREDO PALACIO WALKING INTO CEREMONY TO SWEAR IN HEADS OF MILITARY 0.44 4. SCU /SLV PALACIO SWEARING IN HEADS OF AIR FORCE, ARMY AND NAVY 1.12 5. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) ECUADOR MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS ANTONIO PARRA GIL SAYING: "Asylum, you all know is an ancient institution of American international law in which the state gives asylum to he who qualifies. Brazil has, in this case, granted asylum. The same state that grants the asylum asks for safe passage and, according to the international conventions, it would have to be granted. Now, in order to concede the safe passage, because the state, all states, have the right to analyse the conditions, the situations, the circumstances, but it's the obligation of Ecuador to grant the safe passage in accordance with Inter American conventions over territorial asylum and political asylum." 2.01 6. SLV NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS 2.03 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 8th May 2005 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: QUITO, ECUADOR
  • Country: Ecuador
  • Reuters ID: LVADF9BC1RBFJLXFYD8XRO3ILXX7
  • Story Text: Ecuador's new president, Alfredo Palacio, faces a
    difficult task as protesters demand early elections.

    With ousted Ecuadorean president Lucio Gutierrez
    holed up in the Brazilian ambassador's home and riot police
    standing guard, demonstrators protested on Friday (April
    22, 2005) against possible asylum for the former leader.

    Ecuador's new government was considering whether to let
    Gutierrez leave for political asylum in Brazil after he was
    toppled in a week of violent protests against his rule.

    A Brazilian air force jet was on standby to take him
    out of the country. Brazil granted the former army colonel
    asylum and refuge in the ambassador's residence in Quito
    after angry crowds stopped him from fleeing Ecuador.

    A state prosecutor has issued an arrest warrant for
    Gutierrez over the deaths of two people killed during this
    week's protests. His opponents had called him a dictator
    and accused him of stacking the Supreme Court with allies.

    Gutierrez, the third president of the oil-producing
    Andean nation toppled amid protests in eight years, was
    elected in 2002 with the support of the poor. But his
    popularity slipped after he implemented austere economic
    policies.

    Street protests swelled in Quito a week ago after the
    new Supreme Court decided to dismiss corruption charges
    against former president Abdala Bucaram, an ally of
    Gutierrez. Congress dismissed Gutierrez on Wednesday (April
    20) and the military withdraw support for him after he
    refused to quit.

    Ecuador's new president, Alfredo Palacio, faces a
    difficult task as protesters, empowered by their success,
    are clamouring against corruption and demanding early
    elections.

    Palacio swore in new heads of the military branches as
    Foreign Minister Antonio Parra Gil addressed questions
    about asylum. "Asylum, you all know is an ancient institution of
    American international law in which the state gives asylum
    to he who qualifies," he said. "Brazil has, in this case,
    granted asylum. The same state that grants the asylum asks
    for safe passage and, according to the international
    conventions, it would have to be granted. Now, in order to
    concede the safe passage, because the state, all states,
    have the right to analyse the conditions, the situations,
    the circumstances, but it's the obligation of Ecuador to
    grant the safe passage in accordance with Inter American
    conventions over territorial asylum and political asylum."
    The international community has also wavered on
    accepting the legitimacy of Gutierrez's ouster. Washington
    says early elections are one way to end the crisis, but
    U.S. officials have been cautious on openly recognizing the
    new government.

    The Organization of American States is discussing
    whether the Congress had a right to oust the president.

    Foreign ministers from Bolivia, Brazil and Peru plan to
    travel to Quito after expressing "deep concern" over
    Ecuador's democracy.

    Congress named Palacio to serve out the rest of
    Gutierrez's four-year term, which expires in early 2007.

    Palacio, a doctor, had been an open critic of Gutierrez for
    failing to help Ecuador's impoverished majority.

    Brazilian officials said a passenger aircraft waited in
    Porto Velho, western Brazil as the two governments
    negotiated Gutierrez's safe passage out of Ecuador.

    Enraged protesters shut down Quito's international
    airport on Wednesday by blocking the runways to prevent
    Gutierrez leaving the country.

    Gutierrez would probably travel to Brazil's capital
    Brasilia once he has permission to leave Ecuador, said a
    Brazilian official who asked not to be named.



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