OAS gives Ecuador 24 hours to explain Gutierrez's removal
The Organization of American States (OAS) Thursday gave the new government in Ecuador 24 hours to explain how the Congress concluded that President Lucio Gutierrez should be removed from office, the local press reported.

The request came after Ecuador's acting representative to the OAS, Jaime Barberis, told an emergency session of the 34-nation organization in Washington that Gutierrez's removal "was a constitutional act."

Briefing OAS ambassadors on the situation in Ecuador, Barberis said Gutierrez was removed from office "for dereliction of duty" and it was "supported by people."

Barberis also asked the ambassadors to pass a "resolution" supporting the new Ecuadorian government headed by Alfredo Palacio, who was Gutierrez's vice president.

In response, Panamanian ambassador Aristides Royo asked Ecuador to explain how the "dereliction of duty" was determined.

Peruvian Ambassador Alberto Borea, who is also the president ofthe Permanent Council of Ambassadors, said the inter-American community "cannot look in a different direction and say nothing is happening in Ecuador."

Borea said Gutierrez was still in the Presidential Residence in Quito and "giving orders as president" when a group of congressmen, all from the opposition, agreed to oust him in a meeting held in avenue away from the seat of the Congress.

The Peruvian ambassador also noted that the Ecuadorian congressmen ousted Gutierrez in a session short of the required quorum of at least a third of the total lawmakers.

OAS ambassadors are scheduled to meet again on Friday to hear Barberis' explanation from Ecuador's new government. The ambassadors who attended Thursday's meeting did not say what action they would take if they find the explanation unsatisfactory.

According to the 2001 Inter-American Democratic Charter, it is theoretically likely to impose sanctions on Ecuador if the OAS decides that Gutierrez's removal is unconstitutional.

Gutierrez, who took office in January 2003, was the third Ecuadorian leader forced from office in the past nine years. He had faced mounting street protests against what the opposition said an illegal overhaul of the Supreme Court.