Lucio Gutiérrez

was prominent in a short-lived military coup that overthrew President

Jamil Mahuad in 2000 following demonstrations in Quito by thousands of indigenous Ecuadorians protesting the Mahuad government's corruption and economic policies. Ordered to disperse the protestors, Gutiérrez instead organized mobile kitchens to feed them and stood aside when they took over the national parliament building. Gutiérrez then joined with two leaders of the protests to form a government of national salvation. That government was removed in short order by the commanders of the armed forces, who jailed Gutiérrez for six months.

Gutiérrez ran for President in 2002 as the candidate of the

January 21 Patriotic Society Party, named for the date of the unsuccessful 2000 coup, on a platform of fighting corruption and introducing populist economic reforms. He defeated banana magnate and richest man in Ecuador Álvaro Noboa in the second round with 55% of the popular vote.

Gutiérrez began alienating many of his supporters even before taking office, however, by taking inconsistent positions on whether he supported joining the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), and lost much of his support by pursuing conservative economic policies as president. His former left-wing supporters joined with the conservative

Social Christian Party in November 2004 in launching an effort to impeach him on charges of spending public funds in support of the candidates of his party in the most recent elections. That effort collapsed a week later when the Social Christian Party withdrew its support for the proceedings.

In December 2004, Gutiérrez alleged that the

Supreme Court of Justice was biased in favor of the Social Christians. His political party Sociedad Patriótica, together with

PRIAN (Álvaro Noboa) and

PRE (Abdalá Bucaram), voted in Congress for the cancellation of the Supreme Court of Justice, even though the Constitution gives autonomy to the judicial branch and does not authorize Congress to interfere in the judiciary by removing or nominating judges. Judges were replaced by allies to PRE, PRIAN and PSP with the clear intention of dropping corruption charges against former president Abdalá Bucaram, accused of several acts of corruption during his presidency leading to his self-exile in Panama from 1997 until April 2005.

On April 15, 2005, amid a growing environment of political crisis, President Gutiérrez declared a state of emergency in Quito and revoked the newly appointed Supreme Court of Justice. This was a controversial move that provoked conflicting reactions, and the state of emergency was lifted on April 16, as Ecuador's Congress was expected to hold a session in order to decide whether to ratify the Supreme Court's dismissal. (

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4453153.stm)

On April 20, 2005, following a week of political unrest, the Congress of Ecuador (in a special session with opposition delegates only), on the legal pretext that Gutiérrez had abandoned his constitutional duties, voted 62-0 to remove him from office and appointed Vice President

Alfredo Palacio to serve as interim president. At the same time, the top commanders of Ecuador's military publicly expressed that they were withdrawing their support for Gutiérrez, who reportedly left the presidential palace in a helicopter and sought political asylum in the embassy of Brazil in Ecuador.