Lucio Gutiérrez

Infobox_President
name=Lucio Gutiérrez
order=President of Ecuador


term_start=January 15, 2003
term_end=April 20, 2005
predecessor=Gustavo Noboa
successor=Alfredo Palacio
birth_date=Birth date and age|1957|3|23|mf=y
birth_place=Guayaquil, Ecuador
dead=
death_date=
death_place=
spouse=Ximena Bohorquez(currently in divorce arrangements)
party=PSP (Patriotic Society Party)
vicepresident=Alfredo Palacio

Lucio Edwin Gutiérrez Borbúa (born March 23, 1957) served as President of Ecuador from January 15, 2003 to April 20, 2005.

Political rise

Gutiérrez was prominent in a short-lived junta that replaced President Jamil Mahuad for few hours in January 2000. Mahuad was forced to abandon office after demonstrations in Quito by thousands of indigenous Ecuadorians protested Mahuad government's support of neo-liberal economic policies, particularly proposed dollarization plans. Instead of ordering to disperse the protesters, then Col. Gutiérrez and the army stood aside and let them take over the national parliament. Under pressure from the United States, and lacking support from the indigenous movement, the Junta was dissolved by General Carlos Mendoza and the Congress named then Vice President Gustavo Noboa as president of the country. The armed forces jailed Gutiérrez for six months, but he was discharged, and faced no criminal prosecution.

Presidency

Gutiérrez ran for President in 2002 as the candidate of the January 21 Patriotic Society Party (PSP), named for the date of the 2000 protest, and the Pachakutik Movement, on a platform of fighting corruption and reversing neoliberal economic reforms. He defeated banana magnate and the wealthiest man in Ecuador Álvaro Noboa in the second round with 55% of the popular vote, through a partnership with the leftist and indigenous movement parties, MPD and Pachacutik, respectively.

Gutiérrez alienated many of his supporters by supporting the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) and by keeping the status-quo on economic issues. After three months of government, Gutiérrez broke his alliance with leftist parties and reached an agreement with the PSC, continuing the economic policies of its predecessors and increasing bonds with the United States. The government received increased frequent accusations of corruption and nepotism. After two years, Gutiérrez broke the agreement with the PSC, further weakening the government politically.

In November 2004 his former left-wing supporters joined with the conservative Social Christian Party (PSC) in launching an effort to impeach him on various charges. Gutiérrez was accused of embezzlement by the PSC for using funds, resources and public property in favor of PSP candidates in the elections of 2004, and by the Democratic Left (ID), MPD and Pachakutik for jeopardizing the security of the state for literally inciting the people to burn the courts. Impeachment proceedings collapsed when two legislators broke party lines, and a majority (51) votes could not be reached to continue the proceedings.

In December 2004, Gutiérrez alleged that the Supreme Court of Justice was biased in favor of the (Partido Social Cristiano/PSC). His political party -PSP-, together with PRIAN of (Álvaro Noboa), PRE of (Abdalá Bucaram), independents and MPD, voted in the Congress for the reorganization of the Supreme Court of Justice via majority resolution. His adversaries sustained that 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 political parties with the clear intention of dropping criminal charges against former president Abdalá Bucaram, accused of several acts of corruption during his presidency which led to his exile in Panama from 1997 until April 2005.

Crisis

On April 15, 2005, amid a growing political crisis and protests in the city of Quito against the Government, 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; in fact, it was seen by analysts as a dictatorial act. The state of emergency was lifted on April 16, as the State of Emergency was disobeyed by citizens and General Aguas of the army, who refused to enforce it, and 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 BBC NEWS | Americas | Ecuador lifts state of emergency ] ]

On April 20, 2005, following a week of massive manifestations, the Congress of Ecuador (meeting in a special session in a private building, CIESPAL, with opposition delegates only), on the grounds that Gutiérrez had abandoned his constitutional duties, voted 60-2 (38 members, including the great majority of PRE/PRIAN/PSP deputies, did not vote) to remove Gutiérrez from office and appointed Vice President Alfredo Palacio to serve as President. At the same time, the Ecuadorian "Comando Conjunto de las Fuerzas Armadas", (a military body equivalent to the Joint Chiefs of Staff), publicly expressed that they were withdrawing their support for Gutiérrez, who had no option but to leave the Presidential Palace on a helicopter. He sought political asylum in the house of the Brazilian Ambassador in the north of Quito, after his attempt to leave the city aboard a plane at Quito's International Airport was thwarted by hundreds of angry protesters that breached airport security and blocked the airstrip.

Additionally, on this same day, the CIESPAL building was attacked by demonstrators who were against both Gutierrez and the deputies who had removed him. Many of the deputies were injured in the process. New President Alfredo Palacio remained in this building for many hours, waiting for help from the Army.

He was also the Vice President of the International Parliament for Safety and Peace in the years 2002-2005.Fact|date=April 2008

Post-Presidency

Brazil offered Gutiérrez asylum and arranged air transport out of Ecuador for the former president. He arrived in Brasília via Rio Branco on April 24, 2005. He renounced his asylum, then went to Peru and the United States. In September he was reported to be seeking asylum in Colombia. This was offered on October 4 only to be refused by Gutierrez on October 13. Then on October 15 he voluntarily returned to Ecuador vowing to "use all legal and constitutional means to retake power." He was arrested at the "Eloy Alfaro" airport [http://www.aeropuertomanta.com] in Manta and taken to a prison in Quito, locked in a maximum-security cell, on charges of attempting to subvert Ecuador's internal security by repeatedly proclaiming to the international media that he continued to be the legitimate President of the Republic of Ecuador.

On March 3, 2006, a judge in Ecuador dismissed the charges against Gutierrez. A very notorious political agreement ensued between Gutierrez and the (Partido Social Cristiano/PSC). Gutierrez and the deputies of PSP sided with the PSC in order to gain a majority for controlling the country's Constitutional Court. Upon his release, Gutierrez thanked the Ecuadorian people for their support and vowed that he would participate and win the presidential election in October.

On October 15 2006, his Patriotic Society Party (PSP), led by his brother Gilmar Gutierrez, got the third place in the national election with 17% of the total votes, with the support of the economically disadvantaged, landless farmers and indigenous population. [ [http://www.eluniverso.com/2006/10/22/0001/8/964272135DDD487F8450AC3979150869.aspx Un Ecuador que pocos ven se tomó tercer lugar] El Universo 20 October 2006]

References

External links

* [http://www.cidob.org/es/documentacion/biografias_lideres_politicos/america_del_sur/ecuador/lucio_gutierrez_borbua Biography by CIDOB Foundation] es
* [http://www.presidencia.gov.ec Presidencia de la República]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4270854.stm Seeking asylum in Colombia]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4341092.stm Arrest]