State of siege in Ecuador after President survives police revolt

ECUADOR was under a state of siege today, with the military in charge of public order, after soldiers rescued President Rafael Correa from a hospital where he had been surrounded by police who also assaulted and tear-gassed him.

• President Rafael Correa, wearing a gas mask, talks with journalists at the Regimiento Quito barracks in Quito yesterday. Picture: AFP/Getty Images

Mr Correa and his ministers said yesterday's revolt - in which rebels also paralysed the nation with airport shutdowns and highway blockades - was an attempt to overthrow him and not just a simple protest over a new law which would cut benefits for public servants.

At least three people - two police officers and a soldier - were killed and dozens injured, said Irina Cabezas. the vice president of congress. Dozens of people were injured.

At least five soldiers were wounded - two critically - in the firefight at the hospital before Mr Correa was removed at top speed in a 4x4 vehicle, according to the military and Red Cross.

The 47-year-old president, speaking from the balcony of the Carondelet palace after his rescue, told hundreds of cheering backers that yesterday "was the saddest day of my life". He said 27 of his special forces bodyguards had been injured.

Mr Correa thanked the supporters who converged on the hospital yesterday "ready to die to defend democracy" - his loyalists hurled stones at police who repelled them with tear gas.

He said the uprising was not just a pay dispute.

"There were lots of infiltrators, dressed as civilians, and we know where they were from," the US-trained leftist economist shouted.

In a post-midnight news conference, he added: "They wanted deaths, they wanted blood." He sat in a ceremonial chair and wore the yellow, blue and red presidential sash.

He had blamed his political foes all day, but without naming anyone specifically. His foreign minister, Ricardo Patino, however, pointed the finger at former president Lucio Gutierrez, who co-led the 2000 coup which ousted Jamil Mahuad. In a TV interview, Mr Gutierrez called that accusation "totally false".

Dramatic images of the rescue broadcast by TV stations showed one helmeted soldier dressed in black and wearing a flak jacket, apparently struck by a bullet. He tumbled down a small embankment outside the hospital. The Red Cross said at least one civilian was also wounded.

Mr Correa was trapped for more than 12 hours in the hospital, where he being treated for the tear-gassing which nearly asphyxiated him when he tried to reason with angry police officers at a capital barracks. The officers also assaulted him and pelted him with water.

At the hospital, Mr Correa vowed to defend his dignity and leave either "as president or as a corpse". He also negotiated with some of the insurrectionists, but whether any were placated was unclear.

The hospital's director, Cesar Carrion, disputed Mr Correa's claim to have been "practically captive" in the building. He said the president had his security guards at his side and that no armed police were ever let inside.

After the troops intervened, Mr Correa was rushed out wearing a gas mask and a helmet. He was in a wheelchair - he had surgery on his right knee last week.

It was unclear early today how soon Quito's Mariscal Sucre airport and the airfields in Guayaquil and Manta, which were shut to international traffic yesterday by soldiers, would reopen.