Ecuador's Gutiérrez Forced Out of Office in Popular Uprising

[lateo]

From and email I just got...

April 20, 2005
Please Distribute Widely

Dear Colleague,

A few minutes ago, in a private session with the majority of the
Ecuadorian congressmen and congresswomen in attendance, has named
Alfredo Palacio as the new president of Ecuador.

Follow the story in the Narcosphere:

http://narcosphere.narconews.com/story/2005/4/20/153619/925

According to reports on Radio Sucre, congresswoman Cinthya Viteri,
president of the Congress, swore in Palacio. The former vice president
said in his first speech that "the people of Ecuador, particularly the
people of Quito, decided to end the dictatorship, immorality,
arrogance, terror, and fear."

A few moments ago, military sources confirmed that Lucio Gutiérrez has
abandoned the Carondelet Palace accompanied by his wife and a few
aides. The only information known at the moment is that he has
requested political asylum at the Panamanian embassy.

The Ecuadorian National Police have also just announced that they have
orders to arrest former president Abdalá Bucaram, who Gutiérrez had
pardoned for the corruption charges he had been avoiding for the past
eight years in Panama before returning just a few weeks ago. The
police also have orders to arrest Lucio himself who tried to leave
Ecuador by plane a few minutes ago. The people occupied the runways of
the international airport to stop Bucaram and Gutiérrez's escape, and
a military plane intercepted the helicopter in which Lucio seemed to
be trying to make his final escape and took him to a military base.

The news keep pouring in from the people, who now call themselves
"forajidos" ("renegades", which Gutiérrez had earlier used against
them)... but victory is already theirs.

Keep reading updates on this new chapter in the history of the people
in our América:

http://narcosphere.narconews.com

From somewhere in a country called América,

[ArkDem]

1. exciting