The Great Game

Here is a little background.

Jax

Ecuador's new President Alfredo Palacio has ordered the arrest of the former leader, Lucio Gutierrez, who was sacked by Congress on Wednesday.

After the vote, the army withdrew support for Mr Gutierrez, who left the presidential palace by helicopter.

Brazil says he has taken refuge in its embassy in the capital, Quito.

Protests over Mr Gutierrez's attempts to overhaul Ecuador's Supreme Court have been mounting across the country for a week.

The US embassy in Ecuador has appealed for calm.

Borders closed

State prosecutors ordered Mr Gutierrez's arrest for the violent crackdown on the demonstrations in which at least one person has been killed.

Shortly after Mr Gutierrez was voted out of office, Mr Palacio appeared at a balcony at the parliament building.

"The arrogance has ended. The dictatorship has ended," he yelled to a crowd below, which chanted back "Dissolve Congress".

Protests have been taking place in Quito as well as in Guayaquil, Ecuador's largest city, and in the cities of Machala on the Pacific coast and Cuenca and Riobamba in the Andean highlands.

Mr Gutierrez's opponents dub him a dictator, saying changes he made to the Supreme Court were attempts to illegally control the judiciary and legislation.

Mr Gutierrez has repeatedly refused to resign, saying he planned to serve out his term in office until January 2007.

The Brazilian foreign ministry issued a statement saying Mr Gutierrez was in the Brazilian embassy in Quito.

The army has closed the airport in Quito, while the newly sworn-in President Palacio has ordered Ecuador's borders to be sealed.

But Mr Gutierrez's spokesman told the BBC the sacked leader did not recognise the Congress vote and would remain in the country.

Cheering protesters

The government initially resisted the Congress decision but then the armed forces removed their support.

Soldiers who had set up a protective cordon around the presidential palace abandoned their positions.

There were loud cheers from the nearby public square as Mr Gutierrez climbed into a helicopter that had landed on the presidential palace.

The troubles began in December, when Mr Gutierrez sacked almost all of the Supreme Court judges, alleging they were biased against him.

The new court promptly dropped outstanding corruption charges against one of Mr Gutierrez's allies, former President Abdala Bucaram. Mr Bucaram's Roldosista Party had backed Mr Gutierrez's drive to replace the Supreme Court.

The party also helped to block an opposition attempt to impeach Mr Gutierrez in November.

Follow up: he has now been arrested

More Follow up:

When asked why they [the protesting students] were here fighting the police, most gave long passionate explanations. Their fight extends far beyond the president. They were there to fight against capitalism and Ecuador's potentional inclusion in the Free Trade Area of Americas (FTAA) as much as they were to oust the president. There is a strong Socialist influence at the University and a powerful anti-American undercurrent permeates the streets around it.

# posted by Jacob @ 4/20/2005 09:18:00 p.m.