Ecuadoran President Lucio Gutierrez Saturday lifted a state of emergency in the country's capital after Congress scheduled a special session to discuss the political crisis prompted by mass protests against recent judicial reforms.
"We have fulfilled the primary goal to suspend the Supreme Court of Justice," Gutierrez said, announcing on television an end to the state of emergency decreed Friday that saw members of the Supreme Court removed.
The president's decision came after a meeting with Congress Speaker Omar Quintana, judicial advisers and military commanders.
PHOTO: EPA
Gutierrez's emergency declaration had curbed individual liberties and empowered the government to take extraordinary measures to quell unrest in Quito.
In a televised address to the nation Friday, Gutierrez justified the drastic measures saying he had been compelled to do so to maintain calm and stability in the country. But opponents swiftly criticized the president's move as worthy of a dictator, and legal experts said they did not believe he had the authority to dissolve the high court by decree.
"We are informing the legislators one by one so that they attend the extraordinary session in Quito this Sunday," Quintana said. The 100-member Congress had been set to meet Tuesday to discuss the future of the court.
"At the moment the country is without a Supreme Court," said Ecuador's Justice Minister Oscar Ayerve as he urged lawmakers to find a mechanism as they meet that will allow a new, independent judiciary to be designated.
But many Ecuadorans drove through Quito's main streets sounding their vehicles' horns in protest, as around 200 police and soldiers were posted around the government headquarters.
Opponents called for Gutierrez's resignation. Vice President Alfredo Palacios, running mate to Gutierrez in the 2002 election, added his voice in opposition. "I reject, as much as anyone, the dictatorial state of affairs that the Ecuadoran people are being subjected to."
"Lucio has taken off his mask and has shown himself to be a complete dictator," said Carlos Solorzano, a former Supreme Court chief justice, who said the president had violated the Constitution and had no power to shut down the court.
Solorzano and others, including former president Leon Febres Cordero, said only the legislature could dissolve the high court and name a new one under Ecuador's Constitution.
But the armed forces expressed support for Gutierrez. Vice Admiral Victor Hugo Rosero, the chief of the joint command, said the sole aim of the state of emergency was "to recover the peace and order lost in the last few days."
In a statement, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan expressed his concern and called for a constitutional and peaceful solution to the crisis.
"The Secretary General is following with concern the latest developments in Ecuador," spokesman Fred Eckhard said. "The present crisis may aggravate an already unstable situation."
Gutierrez had said Friday he would not allow lawmakers to reform the Supreme Court through a simple congressional resolution, insisting that new changes should take place after consulting the people.
Several labor unions have launched a series of 24-hour strikes, blaming the president for attempts to manipulate the court to consolidate his power. Some schools have closed, but banks have remained open.
Protesters have been infuriated by the Supreme Court's decisions not to put on trial former presidents Abdala Bucaram, who ruled Ecuador from 1996 to 1997, and Gustavo Noboa, president from 2000 to 2003.
Bucaram had lived in exile in Panama, while Noboa had found refuge in the Dominican Republic.
But the court decision allowed the former leaders, both allies of Gutierrez, to return to Ecuador in early April.
‘CROSSING THE LINE’: China’s embassy in Seoul criticized US Forces Korea Commander General Xavier Brunson, asking if his ‘hostile’ remarks were authorized by Washington South Korea and the US are in talks over recent public remarks by the commander of US Forces Korea, Seoul’s presidential office said yesterday, after the comments drew sharp criticism from China. In a recent podcast interview, US Forces Korea Commander General Xavier Brunson described South Korea as “the dagger in the heart of Asia” from China’s east coast, prompting the Chinese embassy in Seoul to say that he had “truly crossed the line.” The interview came amid growing speculation that Washington might seek to expand the role of US Forces Korea in countering the growing regional influence of China, a key
SEEKING ORDER: Rodrigo Paz said that ‘anyone who wants to destroy the nation will have to deal with this president and the full force of the constitution’ Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz on Wednesday said that the nation was at a “breaking point” after nearly a month of protests that have caused shortages of food, fuel and medicine. Paz, who took office six months ago amid the worst economic crisis there in four decades, is battling a groundswell of fury over his policies. The political capital, La Paz, has been besieged by low-income workers and members of the indigenous majority calling for his resignation. “The country needs order and is reaching breaking point,” the 58-year-old said at a public event in La Paz, renewing his appeal for dialogue. On Tuesday, the Bolivian
Through the noise of rushing papers and whirring belts at a print factory in Kyoto, two creators watch their photo essay come to life in broadsheet form — part of an effort to win new audiences in the age of artificial intelligence (AI). Despite the decline of the publishing industry, self-publication and handmade “zine” magazines are growing in popularity in Japan, reflecting the nation’s enduring love of paper in the digital era. While speaking to Agence France-Presse at the plant, his hands black with ink, one of the creators, Kazuma Obara, said: “I think [paper] is a medium that engages all five
Australian researchers have trained lab-grown brain cells on a silicon computer chip to play the 1990s shooter game Doom and said they are just scratching the surface of what the neurons could be capable of doing. It is the science-fiction work of biotech boffins at Cortical Labs, who researched and developed the technology that harnesses the workings of the brain’s networking system. Each so-called “biological computer” contains about 200,000 living human brain cells, grown from stem cells that were harvested from blood donations. Having mastered the simple computer game Pong, where a paddle is moved up and down to send a ball
RSS