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By Staff Writers, teleSUR
teleSUR
Thursday, Jul 2, 2015
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| Quito Mayor Mauricio Rodas joins anti-government protests, June 25, 2015. | Photo: @jmkarg/Twitter
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Ecuador’s government denounced on Wednesday plans by the country’s right-wing opposition to overthrow the government during protests being held on Thursday.
The plans included the blockade of the airports of Quito and Guayaquil, the bridges located on the Colombian (Rumichaca) and Peruvian (Huaquillas) borders, while enclosing the palace of government, said Minister of Interior Jose Serrano in a press conference in the capital.
He added that opposition lawmakers Andres Paez and Lourdes Tiban coordinated a strategy with former colonel Mario Pazmiño to cause chaos during Thursday’s protests.
President Correa on Wednesday described the colonel, who was the former Chief of Military Intelligence in the Army, as being “very close to the CIA”. The colonel was sacked by Correa in 2008 after he was found to have colluded in Colombia’s bombing of the Ecuador.
According to the exposed plan, the protests coming from the north and south area of Quito would meet near the headquarters of the Government palace. They hoped to “occupy the Carondelet Palace by force, gather the majority of people and distribute them in different sides breaking police fences,” Minister Serrano said.
According to evidence collected by intelligence groups, assault forces would also support front-line protesters.
“They planned to use pointed sticks to break police shields, to throw balloons filled with paint for police to lose visibility, to pepper-spray police horses and dogs so they got scared,” the official added. They also planned to publish two letters in national newspapers, El Universo and La Hora, and to organise letters against the government to be sent to the Pope Francis seeking to undermine his forthcoming visit.
Serrano said the aim “if they were not able to seize power,” was that they “would have created national chaos for the Pope to cancel his visit (…) and maintain an indefinite protest.”
President Rafael Correa commented upon the plot in various tweets on Wednesday evening, deploring the attempt to violently bring down a democratically elected government.
“We wanted to ease the tensions this week. For this reason we even suspended a massive [protest]... Unfortunately we obtained clear evidence of a plot meant to take over the [presidential] palace... They want to defeat violently a government (that’s) internationally and domestically supported.”
He concluded that this attempt, like a previous coup attempt on September 30, 2010 (referred to as “30S”) will be defeated once again, “pacifically but firmly:”
“We are more, many more...”
He also called a pro-government demonstration for Thursday outside the Presidential palace.
A wave of opposition protests, initially calling for the ending of new tax laws on the wealthiest,have demanded the ousting of the Correa government with some protests turning violent. President Correa announced on June 15 the temporary withdrawal of the laws and a national dialogue on the future of the Ecuadorean economy.
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