President drops plan to rule by decree

The Ecuadorian 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.

On Thursday, as unrest flared across the country, Mr 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," the Policy Minister, Doris Soliz, said on Saturday.

Ms Soliz added the government planned to rewrite the austerity law to clarify it, rather than make any major changes. She did not rule out using decree powers if the Congress continued to block laws. "The option is there; it has no expiry date."

Mr Correa vowed on Saturday to round up and punish renegade police who staged the short-lived rebellion, and yesterday three colonels were arrested and placed under investigation for negligence, rebellion, and attempted assassination.

The prosecutor Gonzalo Marco Freire said the three men – the police chief of Quito, the provincial police commander, and the head of the barracks where Mr Correa was held – "should have known what their subordinates were doing". They were released later and ordered not to leave the country.