[A-List] Ecuador: Gutiérrez returns

["Michael Keaney" <michael011@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Political campaign threatens fragile calm of Ecuador
By Hal Weitzman in San Pedro de Atacama, Chile
Financial Times: March 7 2006

Ecuador?s disgraced former president is back on the campaign trail, less
than a year after he was forced to flee and five months after his
surprise return to the Andean country backfired, landing him in prison
on charges of endangering national security.

Lucio Gutiérrez left Ecuador in a hurry last April, after the country?s
Congress voted to dismiss him amid violent social unrest in Quito. He
initially sought refuge in Brazil, followed that with a stint in the US
and then spurned political asylum in Colombia, returning to Ecuador last
October.

The former president, who claims he is still the country?s rightful
leader, was immediately arrested for accusing President Alfredo Palacio
of illegally usurping power. But Ecuador?s Supreme Court ruled on Friday
that this was not in itself a crime, as it would not cause ?military or
civilian uprisings, armed conflicts, social or political instability?.

Mr Gutiérrez?s re-entry into the fragile world of Ecuadorean politics at
the weekend could intensify instability and encourage social unrest in a
country that has forced three presidents from power in the past nine
years.

Although polls have shown him with single-digit support ahead of
presidential elections in October, the former leader retains support in
the oil-rich Amazon region.

His allies were behind an attack on oil installations last month that
forced the closure of the country?s two main pipelines and led to a halt
in exports. Ecuador is South America?s fifth biggest oil producer and
the region?s second biggest exporter of crude to the US.

Basking in his freedom at the weekend, Mr Gutiérrez cast himself as a
victim of ?political persecution? and touted his military connections.
?My relations with the armed forces are excellent because they did not
participate in the coup last April,? he told El Universo news­paper.

A former army colonel, Mr Gutiérrez led a coup of indigenous groups and
junior army officers in January 2000 that overthrew Jamil Mahuad as
president. He was sacked from the military and imprisoned for four
months but won the presidency two years later on a populist leftwing
platform.

Mr Gutiérrez?s dismissal of the entire Supreme Court, which he packed
with cronies, prompted the beginning of his fall from power. That was
aggravated by austerity measures that provoked mass protests in Quito.

Ecuador?s attorney-general was expected to begin an appeal on Monday
against Mr Gutiérrez?s release.


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