Military takes control in Ecuador after soldiers rescue president

ECUADOR was under a state of siege yesterday, the streets quiet with the military in charge of public order, after soldiers rescued President Rafael Correa from a hospital where he’d been surrounded by police who roughed him up and tear-gassed him earlier.

Correa and his ministers called Thursday’s revolt – in which insurgents also paralysed the nation with airport shutdowns and highway blockades – an attempt to overthrow him and not just a simple insurrection by angry security force members over a new law that would cut benefits for public servants.

The region’s presidents quickly showed their support for Correa, rushing to a meeting in Buenos Aires yesterday and condemning what many called a coup attempt and kidnapping of Correa. The US also warned those who threaten Ecuador’s democracy that the leftist Correa has Washington’s full support.

There was no sign on the capital’s streets yesterday of the rebellious police who had thrown the country into chaos the previous day.

Quito’s Mariscal Sucre airport and the airfields in Guayaquil and Manta, which were shut to international traffic on Thursday by soldiers, reopened overnight.

At least two police officers and a soldier were killed and dozens injured in Thursday’s mayhem, said Irina Cabezas, the vice president of congress. Dozens were injured.

At least five soldiers were wounded in the firefight at the hospital before Correa was removed at top speed in an SUV, according to the military and Red Cross.

Correa, 47, speaking from the balcony of the Carondelet palace after his rescue, told hundreds of cheering backers that Thursday “was the saddest day of my life”.

He said 27 of his special forces bodyguards had been injured.

Correa thanked the supporters who had converged on the hospital “ready to die to defend democracy”. His loyalists had hurled stones at police who repelled them with tear gas. He said the uprising was not just a pay dispute.

“There were lots of infiltrators, dressed as civilians, and we know where they were from,” the US-trained leftist economist shouted.

In a post-midnight news conference, Correa added: “They wanted deaths, they wanted blood.”!!