Ecuadoran Interior Minister Mauricio Gandara said Gutierrez left the Brazilian Embassy compound in a heavily-guarded van at about 0900 GMT.

The television report said the van took him to a military airbase in the capital, from which he was taken by helicopter to an airport in Latacunga about 80 kilomters south of the capital. The Brazilian plane was waiting for him there, the report said.

Beating drums and waving flags, about two dozen protesters outside the building chanted "Lucio, out!," facing off against a similar number of police in riot gear. Dozens of onlookers crowded around, while drunken young men clutching rum bottles shouted insults.

A Brazilian air force plane took off early Sunday from the city of Porto Velho in northwestern Brazil en route to Quito, foreign ministry spokesman Paulo Gustavo said.

"If everything goes as planned, Gutierrez will arrive in Brazil sometime tomorrow," Gustavo said late Saturday, declining to give more information because of security reasons.

"We cannot say when or where Brazil's plane will arrive in Quito," Gustavo said. "I also cannot say whether safe passage was granted by the new Ecuadorean government or if any additional security measures were taken."

Ecuador's new government said Friday that it would let Gutierrez go to Brazil, where he has been granted political asylum, but the Brazilian government said it would only fly Gutierrez out after his safe passage from the ambassador's residence to the airport was guaranteed.

Ecuador had been dragging its feet on granting permission, apparently fearing the reaction of Ecuadoreans outraged that Gutierrez will not be tried for alleged abuse of power, corruption and repression of peaceful protests.

"We aren't going to let him go," Ricardo Jines, a 56-year-old plumber said outside the ambassador's residence. "He has to be tried."

Gutierrez sought refuge in the walled compound after Congress voted to remove him on Wednesday.

The crisis was the latest in a long line of them in this politically unstable South American country of 12.5 million people. Since 1997, three presidents have been driven from office in Ecuador before completing their terms.