After six months of the extroverted, jocular president they nicknamed "El Loco," Ecuadoreans are ready to oust him from office.
President Abdala Bucaram, whose antics include recording a CD called "A Crazy Man Who Loves" and inviting Lorena Bobbitt to the national palace, is being accused of incompetence and corruption by opposition parties and workers who say he has become a national embarrassment.Their frustration spilled over during a nationwide strike Wednesday observed by an estimated 2 million people. Workers, some wearing Bucaram masks, ridiculed their president and said the country's honor was in tatters.
Congress announced it would hold an emergency session Thursday night to consider calls for Bucaram's removal.
Under Ecuadorean law the president can be removed by simple majority vote for "mental incapacity," avoiding the long process of impeachment. Congress could vote to fire Bucaram Thursday night.
Cesar Gaviria, president of the Organization of American States, made an urgent trip to the capital, Quito, and said the widespread turmoil was jeopardizing Ecuador's fledgling democracy.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns urged "all Ecuadoreans to refrain from violence" and respect the democratic process.
The strike, which continued Thursday, originally was called to protest austerity measures that have raised rates for electricity, fuel and telephone service by as much as 300 percent since January.
It soon took on a more personal target.
In the capital, workers chanted "Ole, ole, ole! Thief, thief, thief!" accusing Bucaram of corruption. Police held them back with tear gas. Elsewhere they lit bonfires and tires in the streets. Indians and peasants blocked main highways with rocks and tree trunks.
Police were out before dawn Wednesday erecting barricades of sand bags and barbed wire around the government palace.
With public transportation paralyzed, thousands of people walked to parks and plazas for marches and protests.
In typical style, Bucaram sidestepped his detractors this week by announcing he was in favor of the strike. He even declared the strike day a national holiday to allow all state workers to join in the fun.
The 44-year-old president took office in August after a campaign that included an outlandish road show featuring him as singer, dancer, comedian and demagogue railing against corruption and injustice.
He declared himself the champion of the poor and gave them bags of subsidized groceries that prominently bore his name and backpacks full of textbooks, note pads and pens.
He lost favor with them when the austerity measures, adopted to balance the budget, went into effect.
On national television Tuesday night, Bucaram tried to reassure Ecuadoreans that he understood their demands. But he also warned of a "tiny group of conspirators" trying to exploit the strike to undermine his government.