ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times

DATE: Friday, February 7, 1997               TAG: 9702070081
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL   PAGE: A-2  EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: QUITO, ECUADOR
SOURCE: Associated Press

ECUADOR'S CONGRESS VOTES TO OUST LEADER

Congress voted Thursday to remove President Abdala Bucaram for ``mental incapacity,'' exasperated by a six-month stint in office in which the president sang and pulled political stunts while Ecuador fell into economic crisis.

Congress voted 44-34 to oust Bucaram, with two congressmen abstaining. Bucaram, a showman who cheerfully referred to himself as ``El Loco,'' called the vote on his mental incompetence a ``coup by Congress'' and said he would not recognize it.

``The national government condemns this attitude,'' he said.

Congress named its leader, Fabian Alarcon, as interim president pending new presidential elections within a year.

Minutes after the vote, caravans of honking cars roared down the main avenues of Quito, celebrating the vote to dismiss Bucaram.

Heinz Moeller, a member of the opposition Social Christian Party, said it was the security forces' responsibility to carry out the congressional decision if Bucaram refused to step down.

The debate comes on the heels of a nationwide strike Wednesday in which up to 2 million people marched through the streets of this Colorado-sized South American country demanding the ouster of a leader they call corrupt and incompetent.

LENGTH: Short :   37 lines
ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO:  AP. Ecuadorian President Abdala Bucaram sings in 
          concert.