Say It Ain't So Already

Happenings in Ecuador

September 30, 2010 at 5:23 PM Leave a comment

Insofar as our media doesn’t cover anything that happens outside the boundaries of the United States, I thought I alert to the fact that something is happening in Ecuador.  Sounds like a disorganized, spur-of-the-moment coup attempt because people, as in the police, are pissed off at the “austerity measures” the government wants to implement.  People are suffering everywhere.  Thanks Wall Street!

Ecuador’s army chief has demanded that a group of renegade police officers end an uprising against the government, which has already shut down the country’s main airport and sent the president to the hospital.

A state of emergency was declared on Thursday after officers stormed the runway at Quito’s international airport, while others burned tyres outside of bases across the capital.

The military is now in charge of public order, with civil liberties suspended and soldiers authorised to carry out searches without a warrant.

Rafael Correa, the president, was attacked with tear gas when he tried to speak to officers at a police barracks in Quito. The officers are angry about a law that has cut their benefits.

Local media reported that Correa challenged the officers to kill him.

“I’m not taking one step back,” he reportedly said. “Gentlemen, if you want to kill the president, here he is, kill him if you have the guts.”

General Ernesto Gonzalez, the army chief, has said that the officers involved “would have their rights respected” if they turn themselves in.

He said that the military remained loyal to Correa. “We are in a state of law. We are loyal to the maximum authority, which is the president,” he told reporters.

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