Rival denounces opponent as communist in Ecuador ***QUITO, Ecuador -- A retired colonel who won the most votes in the first round of Ecuador's presidential election appealed Monday for support, but his millionaire opponent denounced him as a "Fidel Castro-style communist" who would wreck this Andean nation. Fresh from winning a surprise first place in Sunday's election, leftist Lucio Gutierrez, 45, who helped lead an Indian revolt two years ago, asked the nation's political leaders to endorse his candidacy for a Nov. 24 runoff. "It is time for national unity," Gutierrez told a television station. He wore his trademark olive-green uniform during the interview. ***
Colombia's civil war drifts south into Ecuador*** Despite being Ecuador's oil capital, it is one of the country's poorest communities - a conglomeration of shacks, seedy bars, and brothels serving oilmen, smugglers, and a steady stream of refugees. The town has fallen easy prey to Colombian combatants - members of the FARC or its rival paramilitary groups. In the past five months more than 100 people have been killed by assassins connected to these groups. Locals in contact with the guerrillas claim that the FARC has a list of 300 people still to be executed. Hundreds of people have been kidnapped along the border, and inhabitants of six villages fled their homes at gunpoint when the FARC moved onto their land in February.
The guerrillas have used the area for supplies and recuperation since the mid-1990s, but they are now coming in greater numbers. In the past two months, the FARC has established its presence in Sucumbios with its own radio station broadcasting propaganda. Many frightened residents are selling their belongings and moving away from the border.
Others are staying on to do business with wealthy Colombian combatants. Hipolito Torres owns a little shop by the rugged dirt road leading out of town. He sells his wares of warm soda and jungle survival gear through heavy iron bars. "There is no way to tell which of the customers buying a Coke are guerrillas or paramilitaries," he says, frowning nervously at a line of unmarked jeeps rumbling in from Colombia. "To tell the truth, I don't want to know. It is safer that way. They pay good money, usually more than local people. Just stay quiet and don't look at them, and they generally won't shoot you.***