Ecuador: Twice Foiled

Putting down a renegade

It started innocuously enough when Air Force General Frank Vargas Pazos, 51, chief of Ecuador's joint armed forces command, complained that he had not been informed of a practice alert at the Defense Ministry in Quito. The impetuous Vargas, who is nicknamed "Loco," quickly found himself in a quarrel with the Defense Minister, General Luis Piñeiros Rivera, and the army chief, General Manuel Maria Albuja. Shots were heard inside the ministry. Piñeiros promptly fired Vargas, who in turn charged Piñeiros with accepting a kickback in the purchase of a plane for the national airline. Vargas also alleged that Albuja had diverted...

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