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.
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