Ecuador: At least 46 officers have been detained for bloody police revolt against president

At least 46 officers detained for Ecuador revolt

QUITO, Ecuador — Ecuador’s interior minister said Wednesday that 46 police officers have been detained for alleged participation in the police revolt against President Rafael Correa that claimed five lives.

A lawyer for some officers said a total of 57 were in custody and being held incommunicado.

In announcing the arrests, Interior Minister Gustavo Jalkh said prosecutors had voice recordings that indicate last Thursday’s uprising went far beyond a spontaneous revolt by officers upset by a new law that would strip them of promotion bonuses.

Prosecutors said they also detained a retired army major who was at Quito’s main police barracks when rebellious police roughed up and tear gassed the president.

The revolt ended when army commandos rescued Correa in a hail of gunfire and concussion grenades at a hospital where he had been surrounded by insurrectionists.

But Correa said Wednesday that “the coup is not over.”

“We will investigate … all these things and try to take all precautions so there won’t be a repeat,” the president told reporters.

Lawyer Patricio Armijos told The Associated Press that 57 police officers were being held at the police force’s dog training unit. He said authorities were not permitting the officers to talk with anyone.

Armijos said the prosecutor’s office has notified attorneys it is starting a preliminary investigation. “Which means that it will initiate a criminal proceeding, but we do not know the charges, the evidence or the case,” he said.