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Ecuador vice president takes power after coup

QUITO: Ecuador Vice President Gustavo Noboa announced on Saturday he was taking over the Andean country's presidency with backing from the military after President Jamil Mahuad was deposed in a coup.

Mahuad said he accepted his ouster and Congress approved Noboa's rule by a large margin. The move appeared to strengthen fragile civilian rule in the nation of 12.4 million after the military briefly took power amid one of the country's worst economic crises in decades.

"Under the laws laid out in the constitution I find myself under the obligation of assuming the presidency of Ecuador," Noboa said at a news conference. "I have the support of the armed forces and national police."

Mahuad, a 50-year-old lawyer who struggled to lead Ecuador out of its economic problems, said he had been forced from power and had not resigned. But he said he would accept the new civilian government.

"A thrown-out president does not resign. He is thrown out," Mahuad said in a television address to the nation, adding that he accepted the new leadership of Noboa. "I will never be an obstacle for the vice president to assume the presidency."

Congress, in a special session on Saturday in the business capital Guayaquil, passed a motion allowing Noboa to stay in office until 2003, the official end of Mahuad's term.

Noboa's move to assume the presidency followed the resignation early on Saturday of a top military chief, Gen. Carlos Mendoza, from the three-person junta that declared itself in charge of the government on Friday night. The junta appeared to have lost the support of the military.

The junta, comprised of Mendoza, an Indian leader and a former judge, on Friday took power in a revolt against Mahuad and his inability to revive the economy.

Condemning the coup, Chile on Saturday offered to take in Mahuad, but said the deposed Ecuadorean leader did not believe he was in danger at the time.

Mahuad, who sources said stayed at a private home in Quito on Friday night, appeared alone on television to announce his support for Noboa's leadership. His later whereabouts and degree of freedom were unclear.

The coup capped a week of anti-government protests which culminated when the Indians took over Congress on Friday with the support of rebellious military units, triggering the political crisis. The armed forces have detained the military units' leader, Luis Gutierrez, his wife told local radio on Saturday.

Indian leaders on Saturday condemned Noboa's ascension and called for the protests to resume, potentially threatening to destabilise Noboa's fledgling rule.

"We don't accept the presidential succession. Mr. Noboa wants to take advantage of our people's fight to keep helping the same people as always, the corrupt bankers," said Indian leader Salvador Quishpe. "We will defend our historic fight."

But thousands of Indians started to leave the capital, saying they would continue their protests in the provinces. Many expressed disappointment with Noboa, the break-up of the junta and a lack of military support.

"Among the generals there was betrayal. They have betrayed us," Indian leader Euclides Collauasi said.

Governments across the Americas and Europe urged Ecuador to settle its political crisis by democratic means. U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan said in a statement he was following events in Ecuador closely and was "firmly convinced that the best interests of Ecuador and its people can only be served through the maintenance of constitutional order and the rule of law."

Noboa, 62, a former dean of Ecuador's Catholic University, said he would continue Mahuad's plans to revive the economy by adopting the U.S. dollar as the country's main currency. Mahuad had claimed this would slash inflation and kick start the economy with renewed foreign investment.

Friday's popular rebellion in which two protesters died follows what have been a grueling 17 months for Mahuad, who took office in August 1998. The nation has been rocked by chronic economic problems including inflation, recession, unemployment and poverty.

The size of Italy but with a debt load almost equal to its economic output, Ecuador roiled markets worldwide last year when it defaulted on its international loans.

Mahuad's "dollarization" plan announced this month met resistance from Ecuador's large indigenous population and workers' unions, which said the scheme would further impoverish them by hiking prices but keeping salaries low.-Reuters