Ousted Ecuadorean President Lucio Gutierrez was stranded inside the Brazilian ambassador's residence on Thursday night while angry protesters outside shouted insults, while Brazil, after granting him asylum, held talks with the country's new government.
About 100 protesters gathered near a gate guarded by riot police yelled "Coward!" and "Brazil, give back the thief!"
Gutierrez's enemies say he should be tried for abuse of power, corruption and the violent repression of protests that prompted a congressional vote on Wednesday to remove him from office.
Brazilian ambassador Sergio Florencio Sobrinho said Gutierrez was in the residence waiting for a flight to Brazil. But after a meeting with government officials on Thursday night, the ambassador said Ecuador was not yet ready to grant permission for Gutierrez to leave.
The Organization of American States (OAS), meanwhile, asked Ecuador's new government to explain how Congress concluded that the president needed to be removed from office.
Brazil's decision to grant asylum to Gutierrez provoked outrage among many Ecuadoreans, who said he shouldn't be allowed to escape into exile without being held accountable for alleged crimes. Others said they were fed up with politicians in general after seeing their third leader driven from office in eight years.
"People want a total change," said Jose Manjarrez, 63, who complained that members of Congress had done nothing to ease poverty or fight corruption. "All of them have to go, because all of them are to blame."
Newly sworn-in President Alfredo Palacio, who was vice president under Gutierrez, installed members of a new Cabinet on Thursday in an effort to bring stability to the nation of 12.5 million people. Palacio has promised to hold a referendum and a constitutional assembly to create a new state structure.
Streets were largely peaceful on Thursday after days of street protests that pitted Gutierrez's opponents against his supporters and police firing tear gas.
Gutierrez came to office in January 2003 as a populist, anti-corruption reformer, but soon angered many Ecuadoreans by adopting economic austerity measures. Many were upset by growing accusations of nepotism and corruption in his inner circle.
He dissolved the Supreme Court a week ago in hopes of placating protesters who accused him of stacking the court in his favor, but the move backfired and set off even more massive protests that prompted Wednesday's congressional vote to fire him.
Scores were injured and at least two deaths were linked to the protests. Hundreds of mourners attended a funeral on Thursday for a Chilean photographer who friends said had helped rescue a woman and her young child engulfed by a cloud of tear gas before he was overcome by the gas and asphyxiated.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice appealed for a halt to violence on Thursday, saying, "What's needed now is calm."
The OAS planned a session for yesterday to discuss the situation, and has asked Ecuador's representative to explain how Gutierrez was dismissed under a constitutional clause allowing legislators to remove a president for "abandonment of the post" -- while he was still in the Government Palace issuing orders.
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