QUITO (Reuters) – Former Ecuadorean leader Lucio Gutierrez says the unrest that rocked the South American country last week was a “media show” cooked up by President Rafael Correa and fellow leftist Hugo Chavez.
Renegade police burned tyres in the streets on Thursday last week to show their anger over a new law curtailing bonuses and benefits for public employees.
Correa, an ally of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, was first elected in 2006 promising “21st Century socialism” and a “Citizens’ Revolution” aimed at helping the poor, stripping power from entrenched elites and expanding state control over the country’s key oil and mining sectors. Last week’s protests ended with army commandos rescuing Correa from a hospital where he says he had been held against his will by the rebellious cops. Correa also says it was Gutierrez, president from 2003 until 2005 when he was ousted in a coup, who was behind the rebellion. “There was no attempted coup. It’s a farce. It was all a media show by Rafael Correa,” Gutierrez told Reuters in an interview.
“The president was not kidnapped. He got orders from Hugo Chavez and I believe that it was Chavez who, after talking with Correa, spread the lie about being kidnapped,” he added.
Correa went to police headquarters last Thursday to address the protesters. He was tear-gassed and roughed up by the officers until he sought refuge in the nearby hospital.
Angry police surrounded the clinic and placed sharpshooters on the roof, according to the government. Correa says he was held there against his will until army commandos stormed the building to free him in a hail of gunfire.
Gutierrez disputes Correa’s version of events.
“The president’s abuses and egoism are at fault for everything,” Gutierrez said.
Dozens of Ecuadorean police have been arrested and are under investigation for their possible role in the unrest. Correa’s popularity rose 5 percentage points to 58 per cent after the violence, according to a Cedatos-Gallup survey released on Tuesday.
