Opposition Parties Urge Ecuador President to Quit

Center-left parties controlling Ecuador’s Congress urged President Leon Febres Cordero to resign Tuesday night, saying his conduct while being held captive during a military revolt has destroyed his authority.

“His resignation is the only way Ecuador can re-establish peace and assure the survival of democracy,” Trajano Andrade, leader of the largest opposition party, said in a speech opening debate on a resolution asking the president to step down.

The resolution, expected to be adopted this week by a simple majority of the 71-seat Congress, would not be legally binding. It falls short of calling for impeachment, which would require eight more than the 40 votes the opposition has.

However, the initiative itself, debated amid shouting in the ornate legislative palace, appeared to prolong the country’s most serious political crisis since civilian rule was restored in 1979 after seven years of military dictatorship.

The crisis erupted last Friday, when the president was seized by rebel paratroopers at an air base. Two presidential bodyguards were killed and nine soldiers were wounded in the 12-hour uprising. The crisis was resolved when Febres Cordero ordered the release of a former air force commander, Gen. Frank Vargas Pazzos, who was imprisoned for instigating a rebellion last March. Febres Cordero agreed to the release to secure his freedom and that of 30 other hostages held by the paratroopers.

Warning from High Command

The armed forces high command, which stayed loyal to Febres Cordero during the revolt, warned Congress on Monday against any attempt “to use these ghastly circumstances to judge the acts of those who were offended instead of those who executed the criminal attack.”

U.S. diplomats here urged government and congressional leaders to back away from the confrontation, saying they are worried that the armed forces might close Congress and that, under those circumstances, the president might refuse to stay in office.

“We are very, very worried that political polarization in Ecuador could lead to actions that would threaten the democratic life of this country,” U.S. Ambassador Fernando E. Rondon told American reporters here.

Noting that six South American nations have turned from military to civilian rule in the past decade, he added: “It is tragic to think that this country might jeopardize the democratic movement in our hemisphere.”

Of the continent’s elected leaders, Febres Cordero, a 55-year-old millionaire businessman, is a favorite of the Reagan Administration, which gave Ecuador $65 million in aid last year. His free-market economic policies and debt repayment record have also delighted foreign bankers.

The ambassador’s remarks, however, underlined concerns expressed privately by other Western diplomats that Febres Cordero is partly to blame for the crisis because of what one called his “roughhouse tactics” in ignoring or bypassing Congress.

Ecuador’s rough-and-tumble politics worsened after a coalition of six centrist and leftist parties, capitalizing on a recession caused by falling oil prices, took control of the one-house Congress in elections last June.

Since then, Febres Cordero has refused to meet with the new legislative leaders. In August, the Congress deposed his finance minister in an impeachment proceeding because he failed to seek its approval to free Ecuador’s foreign exchange market.

The next month, Congress passed an amnesty resolution clearing Gen. Vargas of insubordination charges for leading the bloody coup attempt by air force rebels last March. Febres Cordero and a military judge refused to abide by the resolution.

The constitution is not clear on who has ultimate authority.