美洲－厄瓜多尔总统逃脱“致命围攻”

 

Ecuador's President Flees Amid Deadly Protests

 

Despite his pledge to remain in office, Ecuador's beleaguered² President, Lucio Gutierrez, fled the government palace Wednesday after a week of deadly street protests.

 

Ecuador's attorney general has ordered the new head of national police in pursuit of Gutierrez who fled the palace in a helicopter. Airports in the capital and the coastal³ city of Guayaquil were shut down in an effort to prevent Mr. Gutierrez from leaving the country.

 

Television images showed protesters rushing into the plaza⁴ outside the palace when police withdrew from the area. Inside the palace, Minister of Government, Oscar Ayerve, announced Marco Puvero was appointed as head the nation's police force. The former police commander had resigned after the Tuesday death of a Chilean photographer. Ecuador's Red Cross has confirmed another death as well, along with dozens injured in the protests.

 

Elsewhere in the city, the Congress installed Gutierrez's vice⁵ president, Hugo Alfredo Palacio, as the new president of the small Andean country. Speaking to media, he railed against the Gutierrez administration with the words, "Today the dictatorship has ended!" Mr. Palacio has been a vocal⁶ critic for months.

 

Reports differed on whether Mr. Gutierrez was headed to Chile or to Panama, where Bucaram found asylum⁷ several years ago. In late March a Gutierrez-backed Supreme⁸ Court dropped corruption⁹ charges against Bucaram, who returned to Ecuador. It was the beginning of increasingly shrill¹⁰ calls for Gutierrez to leave office. The Minister of Government's statement also included Colonel Gutierrez's demand that Mr. Bucaram leave the country.

 

The same statement by Mr. Ayerve revealed that Ecuador's military had withdrawn¹¹ support for the president, who as a mid-level military officer led a brief coup¹² against then-president Jamil Mahuad in 2000.

 

Colonel Gutierrez had earlier angered Quito residents by calling the protesters "forajidos", which in Spanish translates as "outlaw¹³" or "fugitive¹⁴". In yet another irony¹⁵ of Ecuador's colorful politics, he is now himself a fugitive.

 

The crisis initially¹⁶ centered on what was called a judicial¹⁷ crisis spawned¹⁸ by Mr. Gutierrez's efforts in Congress to "de-politicize" the Supreme Court. To that end, the court justices were removed twice, first by Congress in December and then again last Friday by a presidential decree, in which Mr. Gutierrez also declared a state of emergency in Quito, which he later lifted.

 

Mr. Gutierrez's move was widely viewed as violating the Constitution, and critics accused him of trying to illegally control all three branches of government.

 

Ralph Kurtenbach, for VOA News, Quito.

 

注释:

beleaguer¹ [bi5li:^E] vt. 围攻

pursuit [pE5sju:t] n. 追寻

coastal [5kEustl] adj. 沿海的

protester [prEu5testE(r)] n. 抗议者

plaza [5plB:zE] n. 广场

Chilean [5tFiliEn] adj. 智利的

confirm [kEn5fE:m] vt. 证实

vice president 副总统

Andean [5AndiEn] n. 安第斯人

dictatorship [dik5teitEFip] n. 专政

asylum [E5sailEm] n. 收容所

Supreme Court 最高法院

de-politicize [di:pE5litisaiz] vt. 非政治化

1 beleaguer   

v.使困扰，使烦恼，围攻

参考例句：

• Civilian trap in the beleaguer city has been airlifted to safety.被围困在城里的老百姓已空运到安全地区。
• Enemy troops beleaguered the city.敌军围困该城。

2 beleaguered   

adj.受到围困[围攻]的；包围的v.围攻( beleaguer的过去式和过去分词)；困扰；骚扰

参考例句：

• The beleaguered party leader was forced to resign. 那位饱受指责的政党领导人被迫辞职。
• We are beleaguered by problems. 我们被许多困难所困扰。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 coastal   

adj.海岸的，沿海的，沿岸的

参考例句：

• The ocean waves are slowly eating away the coastal rocks.大海的波浪慢慢地侵蚀着岸边的岩石。
• This country will fortify the coastal areas.该国将加强沿海地区的防御。

4 plaza   

n.广场，市场

参考例句：

• They designated the new shopping centre York Plaza.他们给这个新购物中心定名为约克购物中心。
• The plaza is teeming with undercover policemen.这个广场上布满了便衣警察。

5 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

6 vocal   

adj.直言不讳的；嗓音的；n.[pl.]声乐节目

参考例句：

• The tongue is a vocal organ.舌头是一个发音器官。
• Public opinion at last became vocal.终于舆论哗然。

7 asylum   

n.避难所，庇护所，避难

参考例句：

• The people ask for political asylum.人们请求政治避难。
• Having sought asylum in the West for many years,they were eventually granted it.他们最终获得了在西方寻求多年的避难权。

8 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

9 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

10 shrill   

adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫

参考例句：

• Whistles began to shrill outside the barn.哨声开始在谷仓外面尖叫。
• The shrill ringing of a bell broke up the card game on the cutter.刺耳的铃声打散了小汽艇的牌局。

11 withdrawn   

vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出

参考例句：

• Our force has been withdrawn from the danger area.我们的军队已从危险地区撤出。
• All foreign troops should be withdrawn to their own countries.一切外国军队都应撤回本国去。

12 coup   

n.政变；突然而成功的行动

参考例句：

• The monarch was ousted by a military coup.那君主被军事政变者废黜了。
• That government was overthrown in a military coup three years ago.那个政府在3年前的军事政变中被推翻。

13 outlaw   

n.歹徒，亡命之徒；vt.宣布…为不合法

参考例句：

• The outlaw hid out in the hills for several months.逃犯在山里隐藏了几个月。
• The outlaw has been caught.歹徒已被抓住了。

14 fugitive   

adj.逃亡的，易逝的；n.逃犯，逃亡者

参考例句：

• The police were able to deduce where the fugitive was hiding.警方成功地推断出那逃亡者躲藏的地方。
• The fugitive is believed to be headed for the border.逃犯被认为在向国境线逃窜。

15 irony   

n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄

参考例句：

• She said to him with slight irony.她略带嘲讽地对他说。
• In her voice we could sense a certain tinge of irony.从她的声音里我们可以感到某种讥讽的意味。

16 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

17 judicial   

adj.司法的，法庭的，审判的，明断的，公正的

参考例句：

• He is a man with a judicial mind.他是个公正的人。
• Tom takes judicial proceedings against his father.汤姆对他的父亲正式提出诉讼。

18 spawned   

（鱼、蛙等）大量产（卵）( spawn的过去式和过去分词 )； 大量生产

参考例句：

• The band's album spawned a string of hit singles. 这支乐队的专辑繁衍出一连串走红的单曲唱片。
• The computer industry has spawned a lot of new companies. 由于电脑工业的发展，许多新公司纷纷成立。