Trio led by general seizes power in Ecuador
QUITO, Jan 22: A triumvirate of army general Carlos Mendoza and two civilians announced here late Friday that they had taken power in Ecuador in a coup following mass protests against the outgoing government's economic reform plan, reports AFP.
At the helm of Quito's new government along with Mendoza are indigenous leader Antonio Vargas and Carlos Solorzano y Vargas, an attorney and former Supreme Court judge, the trio announced at a press conference here, hailing their regime as "a government of the Ecuadoran people."
The trio appeared to have the support of Ecuador's top military brass. Solorzano said at a press conference that "all of the top ranking military leaders support this new government."
The ouster of president Jamil Mahuad came after weeks of protests in which demonstrators demanded his resignation over deteriorating economic conditions and a dramatic fall in the value of the sucre.
Vargas announced late Friday that Mahuad had been detained at a military air base in Quito, but that information could not be verified, and Mendoza said he did not know where Mahuad was. Mahuad left the presidential palace Friday under military escort after troops rallied to the uprising.
The Harvard-educated Mahuad, an attorney and former mayor of Quito, was elected 18 months ago on an ambitious programme to modernise the economy and introduce market-oriented reforms.
But in recent months, Ecuador's recession-plagued economy has shrunk by seven percent, while inflation has soared to 40.7 percent. During 1999, the national currency, the sucre, lost about half its value against the dollar.
The breaking point for many Ecuadoreans, particularly its impoverished indigenous community, was a scheme unveiled by Mahuad two weeks ago to adopt the US dollar as the official currency.
Indigenous people, numbering about 3.5 million in Ecuador's population of 13.5 million, feared that the dollarisation plan would worsen their already dire economic plight, and held a weeklong protest here that culminated in Friday's toppling of the president.
Mendoza, who had served as defence minister in the outgoing government, told reporters at a press conference inside the presidential palace that the new government would "take measures to ensure" an end to economic instability and said "the possibility exists" that a referendum could be held at some point in the future.
Outside the Carondelet presidential palace, crowds of students and workers massed to express their support for the takeover with chants of "Ecuador, Ecuador."
The takeover came at the close of a raucous and violent day Friday, as hundreds of protestors stormed the empty congress building, proclaiming a "government of national salvation." Indians took to the streets with rock and clubs and brought traffic in Quito to a halt.
A number of violent incidents were reported across the country, according to the Red Cross, with 13 people injured Friday in clashes in Quito. In the southwestern coastal city of Manabi, four people were wounded by bullets, another three by pellets.
Around 90 demonstrators also were treated for exposure to tear gas in both cities, as well as in the Andean city of Azuay, and in Guayas, also in the southwest.
In the past week, Ecuador's other major city, Guayaquil, has seen a wave of violence, including looting with around 100 buildings damaged by anti-government demonstrators.
In a statement televised from Guayaquil, Vice President Gustavo Noboa vowed late Friday to defend democracy and civil order, and said that he would be ready and willing to assume the country's presidency if Mahuad were to resign.
Mahuad had insisted early Friday that he would not leave office.
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