MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Ecuadorean president backs off from dissolving Congress

Rafael Correa, attacked and gasses by mutinous police forces

Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa has backed off the idea of dissolving Congress and ruling by decree and plans to revise an austerity law that triggered a bloody police revolt, a government minister said.

On Thursday, as unrest flared across the country, Correa said he might dissolve Congress, which would have meant a call for new elections, seen as a tactic to bypass a deadlocked legislature and try to solidify his power.

“This measure is not part of the immediate scenario” Policy Minister Doris Soliz told reporters. She added the government planned to rewrite the austerity law to clarify it, rather than make any major changes.

Correa vowed to round up and punish renegade police who staged the short-lived rebellion, and will investigate opponents he accuses of trying to mount a coup.

The police were angered by moves to cut bonuses and freeze promotions as part of nationwide spending cuts that Correa is trying to push through amid a financial squeeze.

Heavily armed troops beefed up security in and outside the presidential palace after Thursday's police uprising threatened to end nearly five years of relative stability in Ecuador.

The rebellion was the toughest challenge yet to President Correa, who remains popular for his anti-poverty programs despite a slow recovery from economic crisis in OPEC's lowest- producing member nation and the world's biggest banana exporter.

“We were ambushed, it was a political trap,” Correa said during his weekly address on state television, speaking over footage that showed him being physically attacked by police and engulfed in clouds of tear gas.

“These crazy people were politically manipulated. They wanted to kill me,” said Correa, limping with a cane after knee surgery earlier this month. He said one policeman tried to break his already hobbled knee with a truncheon during the mayhem, instead breaking the ankle of a guard who intervened.

After being assaulted, Correa was trapped for hours inside a hospital on Thursday afternoon with police surrounding the building, a standoff that finally ended when troops rescued him in a night raid.

On his show, Correa showed TV images of the rescue operation with troops crawling across the ground as volleys of gunfire tracers streaked across the night sky.

“We have to investigate to the very bottom of this,” he said. ”We will identify a lot of people (from the video).”

Ten people were killed in unrest across the country. They included an elite guard who was holding onto the side of Correa's vehicle when it was strafed by bullets as Correa was driven from the hospital during the rescue operation.