Ecuador elects 6th president in 6 years

QUITO, Ecuador -- A populist former army colonel who led a coup in 2000 and has pledged to fight corruption was elected as Ecuador's sixth president in six years, despite concerns that some of his radical supporters would scare investors.\nLucio Gutierrez, 45, won 54.3 percent support in Sunday's runoff vote, topping the 45.7 gained by billionaire Alvaro Noboa, who counts among his friends several members of the Kennedy clan and Hollywood actors such as Charlton Heston.\nGutierrez's run for the presidency worried some Ecuadoreans because of his support from a small Marxist party, radical Indian groups and leftist-led unions.\nBut since he won the first round of elections on Oct. 20, setting up Sunday's runoff vote, Gutierrez has toned down his rhetoric and shifted toward the center, describing himself as "center-left." He has even traveled to New York to woo Wall Street investors and softened his opposition to the U.S. military's use of Ecuador's Manta air base in the war against drugs.\nHe insists he is not part of the trend of leftist, anti-globalization presidents who have come to power in Venezuela and Brazil, with the likelihood of another being elected next March in Argentina.\n"I am not a communist. I am a profoundly Christian man who respects private property and human rights," he said during the campaign.\nNevertheless, his election is bound to galvanize leftist, anti-American groups around the region, which will see it as another step toward dismantling the free-market, pro-globalization policies that many countries implemented in the past decade.\nAlthough Gutierrez says he supports foreign investment as a way to battle poverty and develop Ecuador, he also opposes privatization of state enterprises, reflecting the position of Ecuador's nationalistic armed forces.\nBut apparently Gutierrez has also been convincing in his contacts with international financial organizations.\nDuring his visit to New York he promised to honor all of Ecuador's financial agreements, live within austere fiscal budgets and seek an accord with the International Monetary Fund to cover a budget deficit. IMF official Anoop Singh was favorably impressed, calling Gutierrez "a man with whom you can talk."\nIn a television interview Sunday night, Gutierrez sought to reassure Ecuadorean and international financial circles that his election was not a threat to investors.\n"I want to give the greatest of assurances to the national productive sector, the national financial sector and the international financial sector," he said.\nIn Washington, State Department spokeswoman Anne Marks said the Bush administration wanted to "congratulate Ecuador on the completion of what appears to be a free, fair and transparent election. We are pleased to see democracy working in Ecuador."\nThe 52-year-old Noboa, who controls a banana and shipping empire that includes 110 companies, had vowed his election would have attracted millions of dollars in foreign investment from his contacts in international financial circles, creating jobs for Ecuador's unemployed masses.\nBut polls showed Ecuadoreans were more drawn to Gutierrez's image as a strong leader who would clean up government.\n"I voted for Lucio because he is going to get rid of corruption and I think he is going to help the poor, those who have nothing," said Maria Alban, a 35-year-old street vendor. "I just hope he is not like the other politicians who offer everything and don't keep any promise."\nThe victory by a political outsider like Gutierrez -- who led a group of disgruntled junior officers and 5,000 Indian protesters in 2000 in a coup that forced out a highly unpopular president suspected of corruption -- underscored the fragility of Ecuador's democracy.\nEcuador's two-decade-old democracy has suffered through trying times in recent years. Since 1996, this small Andean nation of 12 million people has had five presidents. Two of them were driven from office in the midst of political and economic upheaval.\nIn an interview with The Associated Press last week, Gutierrez described himself as center-left and said leftist groups support him "because we agree on a lot of things. I want to fight corruption, poverty, social injustice, impunity. I share the desires of indigenous people to achieve better lives."\nBut political analysts predicted Gutierrez will come under pressure from the more radical members of his election alliance, including Ecuador's Indian organizations. They oppose the country's decision in 1999 to make the U.S. dollar Ecuador's official currency. They also oppose America's use of the Manta air base as a center of operations for its anti-narcotics war in Latin America.\n"Naturally, we are going to make up part of the government," Leonidas Iza, president of the powerful Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities, said Sunday night.\nMiguel Lluco, leader of Pachakutik, the political arm of the Indian confederation, said that Gutierrez has to be "true to himself, to his allies and to Ecuadoreans. That is a fundamental thing for us."\nIn an early sign of differences already developing within the coalition, Gutierrez has dropped his opposition to the use of the U.S. dollar as Ecuador's currency and said he would respect the U.S. presence at Manta.