The 2010 Ecuadorian crisis took place on 30 September 2010, when National Police operatives blockaded highways, occupied the National Assembly, blocked Mariscal Sucre International Airport in Quito and José Joaquín de Olmedo International Airport in Guayaquil, and took control of the premises of Ecuador TV, in what they claimed was a strike to oppose a government-sponsored law that supposedly reduced their benefits. Unrest and looting were reported in seven provinces of the country because of the lack of law enforcement.
President Rafael Correa went to the police headquarters in Quito despite recommendations from his own security personnel not to attend and make things worse. He was ill-received, delivering a harsh speech in which he accused the police ranks of treason to the people and the country, and dared them to kill him. After he was pelted by the police ranks, and a tear gas canister went off, Correa was escorted to a hospital in the same compound. According to El País, The New York Times, El Correo and Correa himself, the policemen then surrounded the building and prevented him from leaving. From the hospital, Correa declared a state of emergency and said that a "coup d'état was taking place", and attributed responsibility to the government's opposition. According to state news agency ANDES, police radio recordings from the night of 30 September revealed that the police intended to kill Correa. Thousands of civilians came out to support Correa and gathered around the hospital in which he was held hostage. Agencia Pública de Noticias del Ecuador y Suramérica (ANDES), 4 October 2010, (EXCLUSIVO) Registro de comunicaciones de la Central de Radio Patrulla deja en evidencia intención de asesinar al Presidente Correa Clashes occurred between rebellious police forces and loyal army and police forces, who successfully took Correa out of the hospital after he had allegedly been held for 10 hours.
Ecuador's Health Minister said the events had left eight dead and 274 people wounded. Of the casualties, it is known that one was a university student, and that a police officer and two military personnel involved in the rescue operation were also among those killed.
The Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), the Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, and the Secretary General of the Organization of American States, José Miguel Insulza, referred to the events as an attempted coup d'état.
Background
At the time of the events, Ecuador had been recently characterized by institutional instability. Between 1997 and 2007, Ecuador had eight presidents, and two of them had been overthrown in political unrest: Jamil Mahuad in 2000 and Lucio Gutiérrez in 2005. Since then, Correa's PAIS alliance won five consecutive elections, including two presidential elections (2006 and 2009), a referendum to modify the Constitution and a referendum to approve the new Constitution. A poll published on 15 September 2010 showed Correa had a 67% approval rating in Quito and 59% in Guayaquil.
Public Service Organic Law The Public Service Organic Law was drafted by the executive, and was perceived by the armed forces and law enforcement as introducing cuts to their benefits. Such cuts included: the removal of Christmas bonuses, bonuses accompanying the awarding of medals, as well as service awards based on time in service. The draft generated much controversy during parliamentary debates. However, it passed through first, second and plenary rounds of parliamentary votes in the National Assembly. On 3 September, President Correa made a partial objection to the law proposal. According to an Ecuavisa report, government sources indicated that Correa considered dissolving parliament and calling for new elections due to disagreements within his own party with respect to his concerns over the new legislation. As of 30 September, after fifteen months of debate, the law proposal had not yet been finalised by the Assembly. It was argued by some that the police were ill-informed of the new measures, which were not meant to cut benefits; rather the benefits were intended to be provided by other means.
As the events developed, officials, the Latin America media, and Correa supporters expressed concern that they could follow the same course as the 2009 Honduran coup d'état in which another left-leaning Latin American president, Manuel Zelaya, was overthrown by the military during a constitutional crisis. – AFP/Yahoo News, 30 September 2010. "The unrest, which recalled a coup which overthrew the elected president in Honduras last year" (Correa is known as, and describes himself as, "left-wing".) The ruling government in Honduras sent a message of support for Correa after news of the crisis in Ecuador broke.
Attack on the president
On the morning of 30 September, members of the Ecuadorian Armed Forces and National Police occupied several barracks and set up roadblocks in nine of the country's provincial capitals to demand that special bonuses paid to the police and military. These police and armed forces occupied the National Assembly building. The Ecuadorian Air Force shut down Mariscal Sucre International Airport in Quito and José Joaquín de Olmedo International Airport in Guayaquil, forcing their closure for several hours. Police also blocked roads in Guayaquil, the country's largest city, and reported unrest in two other cities. Looters also ransacked banks, supermarkets and shopping malls in the port city of Guayaquil.
President Correa went to the police barracks in Quito where he arrived at 11:00 A.M. (GMT+5); after being ill-received – an honor guard was not assembled – he first tried to have a dialogue with the police and criticized their actions as treason to "the people and the country", but after hearing hostile police chant "Lucio presidente, Lucio presidente" he screamed "'If you want to kill the president, here he is. Kill me, if you want to. Kill me if you are brave enough!" After Correa had left the barracks, he was attacked by the police with a tear gas canister that almost hit his head. Demonstrators tried to kick his knee that had recently been operated on. Correa was walking with a cane because of the operation.
Correa was escorted to a hospital in the same compound. Police forces outside the hospital building surrounded it and kept him from leaving; a helicopter tried to evacuate him and his entourage but was prevented from landing by obstacles in the landing pad. They also arrested one member of his close protection team. La Hora Nacional however reported that two hospital employees denied it was a hostage situation, El País reported recorded dialogues between the policemen, in which they announce their intentions to kill him or put him out of office.
From the hospital, Correa declared a state of emergency, after he accused the opposition and security forces of an attempted coup and orchestrating the protests. He stated that he was declaring a five-day state of emergency in an attempt to restore order.
Reports indicated the armed forces remained loyal to the constitutional order.Al Jazeera English News Update. 1 October 2010, 3:00. Correa said that a rescue operation had been ready for a few hours, but was postponed to avoid more bloodshed. Correa's supporters, urged by the country's foreign minister to rescue "their president," were stopped from meeting the president, and clashed with the police around Quito. They reportedly chanted "This is not Honduras," in reference to the 2009 coup in that country. Hundreds of Correa supporters gathered outside the National Assembly, which was seized by striking police, while Interior Minister Gustavo Jalkh met with representatives of the rebellious police.
By afternoon, protesters took control of the channels. Many attacks on journalists and photojournalists by rebellious police, have been denounced in Quito and other cities. Workers and equipment of Ecuador TV, Radio Pública, Ecuavisa, Teleamazonas, and El Comercio were attacked and several journalists were wounded. International journalists, from AFP and teleSUR, were also attacked.
Rescue operation In the late hours of the evening, three teams of special police and army teams (GIR, GOE and army paratroopers) and elite army troops part of a force of around 500 uniformed personnel loyal to their allegiance rescued him after clashes with rebellious police forces inside and outside the hospital building. The rescue from the hospital was shown live on Ecuadorian television. Bullets hit his room during the rescue operation. Venezuelan-American lawyer Eva Golinger stated that investigators "concluded [that] coup forces were attempting to assassinate him before he could be rescued". As Correa was rescued, his armoured car was hit by four bullets but the investigation shows that the car, a Nissan Patrol, that had been used to rescue the president didn't have any impacts, and it is still unclear where the black armoured vehicle (a Ford) was when it was hit.
Correa was then taken to the Presidential Palace, where he gave a "fiery speech" to the public thanking those who supported him and came to Quito to support the "citizen's revolution and democracy in our country" and the members of the government who risked their lives in support of him. He also thanked UNASUR and the other Latin American countries that supported him.
He criticized those who attempted the coup saying: "How could they call themselves police after acting like this against the people?", and said there would not be any immunity for the perpetrators nor would there be any "negotiation under duress". He called the attackers "cowards" and claimed to have spoken to officers who were holding him hostage at the hospital and asked them two questions: Have you ever been paid this well? and have you read the law? He claimed they said they had never been better treated than through his administration and that they had not read the controversial law. When the protesters asked him to revoke the law, he answered that he did not have the power to do so and that he would leave as president or as a corpse, and in the end he left with his "head held high".
Alleged perpetrators President Correa said that "the uprising was incited for political motives" and accused former president Lucio Gutiérrez and other opposition politicians for "attempting to instigate a coup". He said that there were infiltrates from "well-known political parties" among the rebellious police. Police were also heard chanting "Lucio Gutiérrez president" while Correa spoke to them. Gutiérrez' former lawyer was reported to have been spotted amongst a crowd of officers that stormed the building of the state television ECTV and cut off the transmission.
Lucio Gutiérrez, a former president ousted by a popular uprising and leader of the opposition Sociedad Patriótica Party who had participated in the coup d'état against Jamil Mahuad, said that the only person responsible for the situation was Correa himself and his "abusive, corrupt and prepotent government". He accused President Correa of trying to divert the attention from corruption scandals affecting his government. Gutiérrez said "Is true that we want to take Correa out, but with votes, and he shall finish his term so we can defeat him in free (...) non-fraudulent election". During the incident Gutiérrez suggested the dissolution of the National Assembly as a "solution to avoid the possibility of bloodshed in the country",The National Assembly replaced the National Congress in 2009, under the 2008 Constitution of Ecuador. coinciding with the actions of the police who had taken occupation of the assembly building.