This small Andean nation found itself with three presidents Friday - the one Ecuadoreans elected, the one Congress named when it dismissed him and the country's vice president, who claims the position is hers.
Elected President Abdala Bucaram barricaded himself inside the Government Palace behind rolls of barbed wire after Congress voted late Thursday to remove him on the grounds of "mental incapacity."Residents of the capital marched on the palace by the thousands, only to be turned back by police, who fired tear gas and water cannon, killing one young demonstrator.
The country's armed forces - Ecuador's ultimate arbiter of power - promised to remain neutral in the power struggle but warned that civilian leaders must restore order soon.
"At this moment, the world must be thinking that we are not a serious country because everyone is proclaiming himself president," Bucaram, a fiery 45-year-old populist, said from the safety of the palace.
He flew to his home city of Guayaquil at nightfall, challenging congressional leader Fabian Alarcon to meet him there today for talks.
Alarcon was lawmakers' choice for interim president until new elections are called within a year. That decision led Vice President Rosalia Arteaga to object, saying she was constitutionally entitled to succeed Bucaram.
Gen. Paco Moncayo, head of the army, urged all parties in the conflict to seek a peaceful, negotiated solution.
"The country cannot have a power vacuum," Moncayo said at a news conference convened by the high command.
Bucaram and Arteaga accepted the military's recommendation for a dialogue among the three contenders. But Alarcon rejected the proposal.
"We have nothing to negotiate. There are not three presidents," he said at a news conference Friday. "There is a deposed ex-head of state, a vice president self-proclaimed (as president) and a president elected by . . . Parliament."
Defense Minister Gen. Victor Hugo Bayas announced that Bucaram had declared a state of emergency throughout Ecuador to respond to the "situation of violence that is affecting the country."