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Police cordon off Ecuador's Congress after lawmakers are fired
AFP
QUITO
Petroleumworld.com 03 09 07
Police on Thursday cordoned off Ecuador's Congress to prevent 57 fired lawmakers from entering the building amid rising tension over proposed constitutional reform in the volatile South American nation.
Several hundred police controlled access to the building in downtown Quito after the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) on Wednesday ordered the firing of 57 members of the 100-strong unicameral Congress.
Fifty-two of the ousted lawmakers had voted on Tuesday to fire the TSE's president after the electoral authority called an April 15 referendum on whether to elect an assembly that would write a new constitution and could dissolve Congress.
A further five were fired after they challenged the TSE's decision.
Opinion polls show 70 percent of Ecuadorans support the proposed wide-ranging reform of the constitution pushed by leftist president Rafael Correa, but many in the opposition-dominated Congress say it is unconstitutional and claim it is inspired Venezuela's leftist President Hugo Chavez.
Ousted representative Gloria Gallardo, who leads the opposition bloc, said the Congress would hold a session elsewhere to discuss the TSE's decision.
But Interior Minister Gustavo Larrea insisted police would ensure the court's decision is respected, and admitted "the country is experiencing a moment of tension."
Ecuador has seen seven presidents come and go since 1996, three of them leaving amid tumultuous uprisings.
Correa, who was sworn in to a five-year term on January 15, has said he planned to reverse free-market measures, renegotiate foreign oil contracts, and cease doing business with the International Monetary Fund.
AFP 08 1612 GMT 03 07
Copyright© 2007 AFP. All Rights Reserved.
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