Former Ecuadorean President Abdala Bucaram, who returned home hoping for a political comeback but was forced to flee by a crisis that toppled the government, flew to Panama on Tuesday from Peru, where he had taken temporary refuge. "Mr. Bucaram left for Panama today and the Panamanian government, according to Panama's ambassador, granted him asylum," Ecuador's ambassador to Peru, Luis Narvaez, said. Bucaram, ousted by Congress in 1997 for "mental incompetence" and known as "El Loco," or "the crazy one," returned to Ecuador on April 2 after the Supreme Court threw out corruption charges which had kept him in exile in Panama for eight years. But the court decision prompted protests against the government, and Congress fired President Lucio Gutierrez on Wednesday, accusing him of abusing his power by meddling with the Supreme Court. Gutierrez fled to asylum in Brazil on Sunday. Narvaez said Bucaram entered Peru on Friday through its northern border with Ecuador. "He remained in (the northern city of) Piura and flew to Lima on Sunday night," Narvaez said. The Panamanian ambassador put Bucaram up while he was in Lima, Narvaez added.
