Ecuador's president rescued from police uprising
Ecuador President Rafael Correa made a triumphant return to the presidential palace after loyalist troops rescued him from a police rebellion amid gunfire and street clashes that left at least two dead.
The Red Cross said two police were killed and 37 people wounded in the operation late Thursday that freed Correa from the National Police Hospital after 12 hours under siege by rebel police who he said wanted to kill him.
"We got him out, we got him out," Interior Vice Minister Edwin Jarrin told AFP.
Hustled to safety by troops and an elite police special operations unit, Correa emerged on a balcony at the presidential palace to a hero's welcome from cheering throngs of supporters.
"We will never negotiate anything under pressure," Correa exulted, telling the crowd that he had told his captors: "Or I come out as the president of a worthy country or I come out as a corpse."
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