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Coup? What Coup?
After flying into an Ecuador coup en route to a Galapagos cruise, the author experienced the political demonstrations first-hand in the capital of Quito.
(By Jorge Vinueza/bloomberg News)
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The man in the silk tie says Ecuador has faced two sudden changes of government in 12 years. And then the news comes over someone's cell phone, crackly but clear. Increasing pressure from crowds unhappy with government policies became impossible to stop. The removal of President Lucio Gutierrez, only minutes before our arrival, makes three.
Airports like the one here and the one in Quito, the capital, are under military guard because Gutierrez is, at this very moment, in his presidential chopper. He is on the run.
A fellow passenger from King of Prussia, Pa., keeps asking when we will get to leave. Nobody can say. Soldiers with guns mill through the terminal. There are rumors: Angry mobs are beating up government workers in Quito. The vice president has been sworn in. The mobs are also in Guayaquil, and may come here.
It occurs to me for the first time that I might not make it to the Galapagos at all. My cruise could be canceled, along with my hotel nights in Quito. I might be sent home.
I find there is a little part of me that doesn't want the adrenaline to end. I imagine the front pages of newspapers in the United States. The coup, which I now feel a part of, might be squeezed in near the Wendy's chili finger story at the bottom of the page, or relegated to the "World in Brief" roundup on Page A42. How unfair, how parochial.
Or, come to think of it, it could be the lead.
I wish the TV here in the airport had CNN on. We might see ourselves.
Hours pass. The airport kiosks run out of sandwiches and bottled water. I roam back and forth, staring at the displays of parrot-shaped key chains and T-shirts with sea turtle motifs.
Word comes: No flights tonight. We are loaded on buses and driven to a Guayaquil motel. It's a brand new Howard Johnson, so new it isn't open to the public. We airline refugees are breaking it in.
Next day, we learn that some of us can catch an hour-long flight to Quito on Tame, a military-owned airline. Do I want to do this? Cruising the Galapagos is starting to seem dull. I book a seat.
I'm still on edge about the chance of gunfire. But I've made a decision: I want to see my coup for myself.
The airport in Quito is just as jammed with soldiers, but I manage to flag a cab. The avenues are eerily empty on the ride to my hotel. Where are the people? I ask the driver. He lets out a quiet laugh. "If you are not afraid," he says, "I will show you."
