Correa Makes a Call to Ecuadorians after Dramatic Rescue

Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa addressed the people on Thursday from the presidential palace in Quito after a military operation rescued him from the Police Hospital were he had been kidnapped and held captive since early Thursday morning

Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa addressed the people on Thursday from the presidential palace in Quito after a military operation rescued him from the Police Hospital were he had been kidnapped and held captive since early Thursday morning.

“This is a profoundly sad day. I never thought that something like this would happen to this administration, which is a peaceful government dedicated to helping the poor,” said Correa to begin his address.

Correa was trapped for more than 12 hours in the hospital, where he was being treated for tear gas that nearly asphyxiated him when he tried to reason with angry police officers at a Quito barrack. The officers also roughed him up and pelted him with water. At the hospital, Correa had vowed to defend his dignity and leave either "as president or as a corpse."

Correa remained defiant in the face of the police action, saying: "I will not take a single step back. I will not sign any agreement under pressure. I would die first. I thank my compatriots for their support and ask citizens to remain calm."

Correa spoke to cheering supporters from the balcony of the Carondelet palace after his dramatic rescue. “I would like to take a moment of profound silence, because the army had to come and rescue me, and I have been informed that at least one police officer has fallen. I cried tears of sadness when I heard that Ecuadorian blood was pointlessly spilt. We still don’t know how many others have fallen, but in the name of their families, let’s take a heartfelt minute of silence.”

Following the minute of silence, the Ecuadorian president said, “They wanted to stop the Citizen Revolution with lies; I hope they have learned a lesson.”

“I thank the thousands of friends who went to rescue me from the police at the hospital. They were surely dosed with tear gas. How can those who acted in this way call themselves police?”

Correa thanked all the sectors that mobilized in support of the Citizen Revolution and democracy in Ecuador: “Thank-you to those heroes who accompanied me throughout this day; to my personal bodyguard who was kicked and mistreated.”

“Despite the danger and despite being surrounded, state officials began to arrive ready to die if necessary; with this bravery and loyalty, nobody and nothing will ever be able to defeat us,” said Correa.

President Correa also thanked the presidents of Latin America and around the world who came together to support his government; especially the UNASUR, the Union of South American Nations.

The presidents of Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela rushed to Buenos Aires for an emergency session of the continent's UNASUR defense union, meeting with Argentine President Cristina Fernandez and her husband Nestor Kirchner, the union's secretary general.

Early Friday, UNASUR agreed to send their foreign ministers to Quito “to show full support” and issued a resolution energetically condemning “the attempted coup and subsequent kidnapping” of Correa.

They also called for those responsible to be tried and convicted, and warned that in the event of new threats to the constitutional order, they would immediately close borders and air traffic, suspend commerce and cut off energy supplies and other services to Ecuador.

“Under no circumstances will we tolerate any challenge” to the constitutional government, they said at their meeting led by Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.

“It would be very naive to think that this attack is motivated only by salaries,” Chavez said in comments broadcast on Telesur.

Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa also questioned the motives of the police, “How could they put the future of the country at risk for such a banal objective [as supposed remunerations].”

“Nobody has supported the police as much as this government, no one has improved their salaries more than this government. Seeing so much aggression today made me feel profound sadness. How can they do this to us after everything we have done for the police?”

Correa said that it wasn’t the whole police force who was involved in the attack but certain elements."There were lots of infiltrators, dressed as civilians, and we know where they were from...Lucio Gutiérrez’ (former president of Ecuador) people were there.”

The government declared a state of siege, putting the military in charge of order. Peru and Colombia closed their countries' borders with Ecuador in solidarity with Correa.

Hours before Correa's rescue, the armed forces chief, General Ernesto Gonzalez, declared the military's loyalty to the president. He called for "a re-establishment of dialogue... the only way Ecuadoreans can resolve our differences."

Correa said that the police hadn’t read the new law and instead allowed themselves to be manipulated by traitors to the country. “They didn’t even read the law that apparently led them to insubordination and to betray their country.”

"Nobody will stop the citizen's revolution. We will never give in,” said Correa.

President Rafael Correa ended his address to the people saying, “Today the president has not given in like other cowards. As I said from my prison, I either come out as president of an honorable nation or I come out as a corpse. Thank-you very much brothers and sisters of the national movement.”

Correa took office in the Andean nation of 14 million in 2007, becoming the first president to win two terms when he was reelected in April 2009. The election took place after voters approved a new constitution, and Correa became Ecuador's first president in history to win an election without a runoff.