ECUADOR: Mr Lucio Gutierrez, a retired army colonel, was sworn in as president in Ecuador yesterday, marking a radical departure in the nation's political life.
"My two goals are to fight corruption and increase competitiveness within a stable economic model," said Mr Gutierrez.
The youthful president, aged 45, came to prominence three years ago when he disobeyed orders and joined an indigenous protest that toppled former president Jamil Mahuad.
Briefly imprisoned and then retired from service, Mr Gutierrez formed an electoral alliance with the indigenous Pachakutic movement, pledging to honour the social demands of the nation's poor, among them four million indigenous citizens. Pachakutic opposes the Free Trade Area of the Americas and wants to reassess Ecuador's adoption of the dollar in March 2000.
Half of Ecuador's 12 million people earn the monthly minimum wage of $140, a fraction of the estimated $800 a month required to purchase food for an average household. Remittances sent home from abroad are vital; two million citizens have left in the past 10 years.
"If I turn out to be a corrupt president," Mr Gutierrez said to thousands of cheering supporters, "if I govern for the wealthy, the people have the right not just to throw me out of office but to execute me".