Ecuador’s interior minister said on Wednesday that 46 police officers have been detained for alleged participation in the police revolt against Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa that claimed five lives.
A lawyer for some officers said a total of 57 were in custody and being held incommunicado.
In announcing the arrests, Ecuadorian Interior Minister Gustavo Jalkh said prosecutors had voice recordings that indicate the uprising on Sept. 30 went far beyond a spontaneous revolt by officers upset by a new law that would strip them of promotion bonuses.
PHOTO: EPA
Prosecutors said they also detained a retired army major who was at Quito’s main police barracks when rebellious police roughed up and tear gassed the president.
The revolt ended when -Ecuadorian army commandos rescued Correa in a hail of gunfire and concussion grenades at a hospital where he had been surrounded by insurrectionists.
However, Correa said on Wednesday that “the coup is not over.”
“We will investigate ... all these things and try to take all precautions so there won’t be a repeat,” the president told reporters.
Lawyer Patricio Armijos said that 57 police officers were being held at the police force’s dog training unit. He said authorities were not permitting the officers to talk with anyone.
Armijos said the prosecutor’s office has notified attorneys it is starting a preliminary investigation.
Meanwhile, Correa said on Wednesday he had no immediate plans to try to break his deadlock with the Ecuadorian Congress by dissolving the legislature, but had not ruled out the option after police protests last week.
Dissolving the Congress would allow the leftist leader to rule by decree until new elections. He had been considering the move since before the police protests.
“We do not see any immediate need [to dissolve the Congress], but we cannot exclude it either,” Correa said. “Today, more than ever, the possibility is distant, but we do not exclude it in the future.”
Correa also praised his Colombian counterpart on Wednesday for supporting him during the police mutiny last week and said it would help fully normalize relations between the two countries after years of tension.
A Colombian cross border raid on a guerrilla base inside -Ecuador ruptured relations between the two South American neighbors in 2008 and they have been slow to mend since then.
However, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos declared his “full support” for Correa after the protests.
Santos closed borders with Ecuador and strongly denounced the unrest as an attempted coup.
“These actions will be well recognized,” Correa told reporters on Wednesday, praising Santos for standing by him.
Santos’ actions “strengthen the process of normalization, of mutual trust that should exist ... between two governments,” he said.
Quito broke relations with Bogota for 21 months after the 2008 incursion, which also caused a crisis with the leftist government of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese