Ecuador's new president pledges war on corruption

QUITO, Ecuador -- Lucio Gutierrez, a cashiered army colonel who led a coup three years ago against an unpopular president, took office Wednesday as Ecuador's new president and immediately issued a warning to the country's "corrupt oligarchy."

His followers in the Congress chanted "Lucio, Presidente" as he strapped on the red, yellow and blue presidential sash and took the oath of office.

"Lucio Gutierrez will not govern for the left nor for the right. He will govern for Ecuadoreans unhindered by the ideologies of the past," he said to loud applause.

But he issued a warning that he will take strong steps against "the corrupt oligarchy that has robbed our money, our dreams and the right of Ecuadoreans to have dignified lives."

Gutierrez, 45, has pledged a war against corruption that most likely will bring him into a confrontation with Ecuador's entrenched political elite.

He has labeled Ecuador's traditional parties and their leaders as corrupt and said all of the country's former presidents should be in prison for their responsibility in "the national disaster" -- although he later apologized for his remarks.

Call to protest

In a newspaper interview published Wednesday he reiterated his warning that he will call massive street protests if the political establishment tries to block his reforms.

In a fiery address Tuesday night before the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, Gutierrez said he would found a new Ecuador based on "ethical values, moral values ... with social justice" for the poor, including Ecuador's large Indian population.

Seven Latin American presidents were among the guests at the inauguration ceremony, including Cuba's Fidel Castro, Brazil's Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Venezuela's Hugo Chavez.

It was the first time that Castro, da Silva and Chavez -- all of them leftists -- and Gutierrez, who describes himself as center-left but enjoyed the support of leftist groups during his campaign, had gathered in the same place.

On his arrival in Ecuador, Chavez referred to Gutierrez as "my comrade and brother in arms." Gutierrez has frequently expressed his admiration for Chavez, raising fears among some Ecuadoreans that he may seek to emulate Chavez, a former paratrooper and coup leader like Gutierrez whose leftist rhetoric has divided Venezuela along class lines and produced growing political instability.

"I think they are different personalities but their political plans are not so different," said Benjamin Ortiz, head of a Quito think tank. "His goal is to accumulate political power and if he achieves it, it will be a beginning similar to that of Chavez, who began with popular referendums."

Gutierrez, frequently referred to in the streets simply as "the Colonel," thrust himself into the national spotlight three years ago when he led a group of disgruntled junior army officers and 5,000 Indian protesters in an uprising that drove the highly unpopular Jamil Mahuad from power in the midst of the country's worst economic crisis in decades.

He won an election runoff in November, on a campaign pledge to put an end to deeply rooted corruption.

One international study ranks Ecuador as the second-most corrupt country in Latin America and the eighth most corrupt in the world.

In his campaign Gutierrez pledged to reduce the number of lawmakers, eliminate the influence of political parties over the court system and extradite corrupt bankers who made off with people's money when the banking system collapsed in 1999. He plans to call popular referendums to achieve his reforms.

"At some moment the country must change or if it doesn't I will convoke marches," he said in an interview published Sunday in the daily HOY. "We will not permit the mafia to destroy what we want to build."

Gutierrez got a taste of what he faces in his efforts to rein in Ecuador's traditional power brokers when he failed in a bid to negotiate an agreement with opposition parties that would have given him control of the 100-member Congress. Gutierrez's political coalition has only 17 seats.