Crisis hits Ecuador

2005-04-16 10:18

Quito - After three days of growing street marches demanding his ouster, President Lucio Gutierrez dissolved the Supreme Court and declared a state of emergency in Quito in a bid to keep protests under control and find a solution to a deepening political crisis.

His political foes immediately labelled the measure the act of a dictator.

Speaking in a televised address to the nation on Friday night, Gutierrez said he was using the powers granted him by the Constitution to dismiss the Supreme Court appointed in December after an attempt in Congress to impeach him.

"The measure ... was taken because Congress until now has not resolved the matter of the current Supreme Court, which is generating national commotion and especially in the city of Quito ... which rejects the operation of the Supreme Court," Gutierrez said, with the military high command standing behind him.

Condemnation of president

The state of emergency placed the military in charge of public order and suspended individual rights, including the right to free expression and public assembly.

The military command went on national television shortly before 02:00 on Saturday to give its implicit support to Gutierrez. Victor Hugo Rosero, head of the armed forces, said the only purpose of the state of emergency was "to recover the order, peace and tranquillity lost during the last days."

Despite the restrictions on public meetings, tens of thousands of Quito's residents poured into the streets to protest the measure, shouting that Gutierrez, a cashiered army colonel before his election in 2002, was a dictator.

Gutierrez's political foes were quick to condemn his action.

Quito Mayor Paco Moncayo, a retired army general and a leader of the opposition Democratic Left party, joined in condemning the measure and criticized the military high command for supporting Gutierrez's actions.

"The president can't dissolve the court. We are living in a dictatorship and this decree unmasks the dictatorship," he said. "We are calling for civil disobedience."

There was little turnout earlier this week when Gutierrez's political opponents called a giant demonstration against his purge of the Supreme Court.

But street protests began on Wednesday night and increased in numbers until at least 10 000 people - banging pots and sticks and shouting "Get out, Lucio!" - were marching in the streets as Gutierrez made his announcement.

The court crisis was set in motion in November when the former justices sided with opposition politicians in a failed effort to impeach Gutierrez on corruption charges. Gutierrez then assembled a bloc of 52 lawmakers in the 100-seat unicameral Congress, which voted in December to remove the judges and appoint new ones. Constitutional experts said the vote was unconstitutional.

- AP