QUITO (Reuters) – Police in Ecuador seemed to accept cuts to their bonuses yesterday without further protest amidst debate over whether renegade officers had tried to kill or topple President Rafael Correa in a rebellion last week.
Correa, backed by many South American governments and who enjoys public approval ratings of about 50 percent, called the revolt a coup and assassination attempt. But critics say he provoked police who were simply protesting a new law that ends promotion bonuses for police and soldiers.
Soldiers in armoured vehicles with mounted machine guns patrolled the streets over the weekend as police operations returned to normal. Protests did not continue.
“Everything seems to be returning to normal,” police spokesman Richard Ramirez said. On Thursday, armed police assaulted Correa and surrounded a hospital where he took refuge for hours before he was rescued in a nighttime storm of gunfire by loyal troops. At least four people died in the confrontation, with four more killed and almost 300 injured in unrest across the South American nation.
The riots were a reminder that Ecuador is one of Latin America’s most volatile countries, with three of eight presidents toppled in the decade before Correa brought a degree of stability to OPEC-member country in 2007. One of Correa’s bodyguards was killed protecting a car in the presidential convoy, which images showed was hit with several bullets. The government says snipers who infiltrated the police protest tried to assassinate the 47-year-old president. “Nobody shoots at the head of state to get a bonus, or so they can have a pay rise. There were other aims and intentions going on there,” Interior Minister Gustavo Jalkh said on Sunday.
Under the new benefits rules, designed to save money as cash-strapped Ecuador recovers from the global recession, police and soldiers will no longer be paid bonuses when they are promoted or be given gifts at Christmas. The law was passed without discussion on Sunday night and was due to be published officially yesterday, making it binding. Correa, a European-trained economist known for his combative approach to government, may now have to tread carefully when dealing with the army, which saved him last week but also called on him to retract the controversial law.
In a sign that the military extracted concessions in return for loyalty, Defense Minister Javier Ponce promised armed forces chiefs to deposit two years’ of back pay for several military ranks, two newspapers reported on Sunday. Ecuadorean presidents have typically been toppled when the army refuses to intervene to save them in the face of popular protests.
“In my opinion it was an attempted coup, because there was a lot of political movement going on and police rose up all over the country, not just in Quito,” said engineering student Andres Salazar on Friday.
