Ecuadorean lawmaker blames husband for ouster from Congress

The Associated Press

Published: January 9, 2007

QUITO, Ecuador: Politics can make estranged bedfellows.

An Ecuadorean congresswoman on Tuesday accused her own husband — former President Lucio Gutierrez — of orchestrating her expulsion from Congress. Her offense? Supporting President-elect Rafael Correa's push to rewrite the constitution.

Ximena Bohorquez was kicked out of the legislature late Monday for breaking with her opposition Patriotic Society party, headed by Gutierrez, on the constitutional overhaul. She was accused of violating a congressional code of ethics.

"I have struggled to maintain family unity, and that hasn't been reciprocated in the best possible way," Bohorquez told Channel 4 television Tuesday.

The couple's stormy relationship has long made headlines in Ecuador.

An Ecuadorean congresswoman on Tuesday accused her own husband — former President Lucio Gutierrez — of orchestrating her expulsion from Congress. Her offense? Supporting President-elect Rafael Correa's push to rewrite the constitution.

Ximena Bohorquez was kicked out of the legislature late Monday for breaking with her opposition Patriotic Society party, headed by Gutierrez, on the constitutional overhaul. She was accused of violating a congressional code of ethics.

"I have struggled to maintain family unity, and that hasn't been reciprocated in the best possible way," Bohorquez told Channel 4 television Tuesday. The couple's stormy relationship has long made headlines in Ecuador. During the 2002 presidential campaign they acknowledged that Bohorquez had filed a police complaint against Gutierrez for verbal and psychological abuse years earlier. In 2003, they sought a legal separation of their assets, though they denied having marital problems.

Bohorquez on Tuesday said that she had not filed for divorce. It was unclear whether the couple, who have been married for 25 years and have two daughters aged 16 and 22, are currently living together.

Gutierrez called the situation "terrible."

"She is the mother of my daughters. She helped me found a political party," he told Channel 2 television Tuesday. "What I can tell the Ecuadorean people is that my life has split in two."

Gutierrez was forced from the presidency in April 2005 by lawmakers following massive protests.

Correa, who takes office Jan. 15, has been campaigning around the country in recent days, encouraging street protests against a majority of lawmakers who vehemently oppose his plan to convoke a national referendum on a constituent assembly to draft a new charter.

Bohorquez told Citynoticias radio in Guayaquil that the Patriotic Society party wouldn't be what it is without her husband's leadership, but said he was the "author of her disqualification."

CRE radio in Guayaquil quoted Bohorquez complaining that her husband failed to stick up for her.

"There was never a defense of me," she reportedly said. "I know the Patriotic Society has turned into a party structure with party chieftains and owners."

Bohorquez often broke with the party's line during Gutierrez's administration after it shifted from its leftist, anti-corruption campaign platform to one of orthodox economic austerity once he came to power.

Another lawmaker, Irina Vargas, was also expelled Monday for disobeying directives from the Patriotic Society party.