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Ecuador's Congress sacks Supreme Court

Supporters of Ecuadorean President Lucio Gutierrez shout slogans during a demonstration surrounding Carondelet presidential palace in Quito on Sunday to prevent the opposition from getting closer. Gutierrez has been at odds with the opposition over plans to reform the Supreme Court. PHOTO: AFP

The Ecuadoran parliament, seeking to defuse a political crisis that has threatened the rule of left-leaning President Lucio Gutierrez, voted late on Sunday to dismiss members of the country's Supreme Court following mass street protests against recent judicial reforms.

The resolution, championed by the opposition and approved unanimously by all the members of Congress, takes effect immediately.

The measure effectively invalidates judicial reforms pushed through the legislature by members of the ruling coalition on Dec. 8 that have sparked popular unrest in the capital and other parts of the country.

Congress also created a special commission that will designate 31 new members of the Supreme Court as well as outline their future prerogatives.

The dispute over the role of the high court came to a head late on Friday, when Gutierrez declared a state of emergency in the capital to quell the protests.

The president lifted the emergency decree the following day, but the about-face hardly removed the underlying cause of the unrest.

Massive discontent was sparked by a bid by the ruling party to restructure the Supreme Court that was immediately blasted by the opposition as an attempt by the government to establish control over the judiciary.

About 10,000 people took to the streets of Quito banging pots and pans and demanding the resignation of the left-leaning president.

"Lucio out!" chanted the demonstrators. "Yes to democracy, no to dictatorship!"

Several labor unions launched a series of 24-hour strikes, blaming the president for attempts to manipulate the high court in order to consolidate his power.

Some schools have closed, but banks have remained open.

But the strikes have largely not affected the country's strategic port city of Guayaquil, and that was seen as a setback for the opposition.

Protesters have been infuriated by the Supreme Court's decisions not to put on trial former presidents Abdala Bucaram, who ruled from 1996 to 1997, and Gustavo Noboa, who was 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 earlier this month.

"I am a nuclear bomb for the Ecuadoran oligarchy," Bucaram declared, pointing out that he planned to run for president again.

In an interview with foreign journalists earlier on Sunday, Gutierrez insisted he had no plans to step down, saying only 1 percent of Quito residents would favor such an outcome.

But Gutierrez hinted that a lost battle of the judiciary could pave the way for his departure.

"Only if my efforts to depoliticize the courts fail will it be possible for me to consider what you are asking me about," he said.

The congressional resolution on Sunday immediately sparked debate over all previous rulings of the Supreme Court, including the decisions not to hold the Noboa and Bucaram trials.
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