Ecuador Declares State of Emergency

SEPTEMBER 30, 2010, 6:07 P.M. ET.

Ecuador Declares State of Emergency

By MERCEDES ALVARO And ROBERT KOZAK

QUITO, Ecuador—Protests Thursday against an overhaul of public-sector worker benefits turned into what Ecuador's President Rafael Correa called an attempt at a coup d'état.

Members of the national police and some military officials walked off the job and closed down the airport in the capital, Quito. Protests quickly spread to other cities, leading to roadblocks, rioting and the closure of banks after several were robbed.

Mr. Correa's government declared a state of emergency for five days, mobilizing the armed forces. Mr. Correa, a U.S.-trained economist, went to a police hospital after being affected by tear gas when he was at a police barracks trying to quell the unrest early in the morning. His office said he wasn't able to leave the hospital due to police protesters surrounding the building.

Unrest in Ecuador as police are up in arms over bonus cuts. Video courtesy of Reuters.

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Associated Press

With a gas mask on his head, Ecuador's President Rafael Correa gestures as he runs away from tear gas during a protest of police officers and soldiers against a new law that cuts their benefits at a police base in Quito, Ecuador, Thursday. Mr. Correa tried to speak with a group of police protesters but was shouted down.
.Mr. Correa and his cabinet ministers said the protests were an attempt by the opposition to destabilize his government, and blamed "insubordinate" members of the police and the military.

"We aren't going to let the constitutional order be broken. Nothing is going to stop the citizen revolution," said Mr. Correa, who has moved Ecuador to the left of the political spectrum since taking office in 2007.

Mr. Correa also blamed the unrest on former President Lucio Gutierrez, who came in second in the 2009 election, which Mr. Correa called to gain another mandate following the approval of a new constitution his government pushed through.

Various nations expressed support for Mr. Correa on Thursday, including Spain, Argentina, Chile, Peru and the Ecuadorean leader's close ally, Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez, who telephoned Mr. Correa to lend support. Peru's President Alan GarcÃ*a said he was closing the border with Ecuador, while Chilean President Sebastián Piñera called for a meeting of the Unasur regional economic and political bloc to discuss the situation.

The Organization of American States held an extraordinary session to discuss the events in Ecuador.

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Dolores Ochoa/Associated Press

A police officer demonstrated next to a bonfire in Quito.
..Mr. Correa has been facing increased political pressure because of poor public-sector finances and weakening public support. He has been pushing through legislation recently instead of relying on Congressional approval, which has weakened his approval ratings, though he still remains personally popular.

On Thursday, Mr. Correa said he was seriously considering dissolving Congress, which he has the right to do when he considers that the legislature has ceased to function.

That would mean, however, that he would have to call new elections for both Congress and for his job as president of the republic.

"President Correa's uncompromising style, and today's press statements, suggest the president will not easily back down from what is turning into the most serious political crisis of his mandate," said Goldman Sachs economist Alberto Ramos in a research note.

Rubén DarÃ*o Buitrón, an editor with Quito's respected El Comercio newspaper, said that no coup d'état was under way. "It is a media show and things have been exaggerated by the government in order to make it look like a victim," he said, adding that the problems started with some low-ranking officers upset with specific issues, not with a group of generals unhappy with the broader government.

Ecuador has been plagued by political instability for years; no president has finished a full term in office since 1996. A number of presidents since then have been pushed out following popular unrest in the streets.

Mr. Correa's term ends in 2013, but he can run again for a new four-year term then.

Write to Mercedes Alvaro at mercedes.alvaro@dowjones.com

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