Ecuador's president offered asylum in Brazil
Gutierrez ousted after street protests
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 The end of President Lucio Gutierrez's leadership.
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QUITO, Ecuador (CNN) -- Brazil's ambassador said Thursday his country has granted asylum to Lucio Gutierrez, the ousted president of Ecuador, and was negotiating with Ecuador to arrange for his safe passage out of the country.
The ambassador made the statement in an interview with Radio Colombiano.
Gutierrez sought asylum Wednesday from the Brazilian Embassy in Quito.
Ecuadorean lawmakers removed President Lucio Gutierrez from office Wednesday and replaced him with Vice President Alfredo Palacio, following days of intensifying street protests.
"The people of Ecuador, particularly the people of Quito, today have ended the dictatorship, the immorality, the great power, the terror of fear," Palacio told the Congress upon being sworn in.
"The people of Ecuador today have decided to save the republic, a republic of hope, in whose streets and green fields should flower dignity, hope, equality and happiness."
Acting Attorney General Cecilia Armas ordered the newly appointed head of the national police, Gen. Marco Cuvero, to arrest Gutierrez for ordering a crackdown on demonstrators, according to The Associated Press.
Adm. Victor Hugo Rosero, head of the joint chiefs of staff of the armed forces, said after the vote that troops would no longer back Gutierrez, the AP reported.
The change in power occurred after street protests that began several months ago, when Gutierrez sacked most of the Supreme Court judges and hand-picked their replacements. The move provoked a tremendous public outcry, with escalating protests in recent weeks raising fears of violence between supporters and critics of Gutierrez.
Gutierrez contended that he made the move to create a more independent court system, but much of the public believed it to be an attempt by the left-of-center government to consolidate power.
Thousands of demonstrators packed the Plaza of Independence in the capital city, Quito, waving flags in celebration shortly after the 100-seat, unicameral Congress held a special session and voted 62-0 to remove Gutierrez.
Other demonstrators blocked the road to Quito's airport to try to prevent Gutierrez from leaving the country.
At one point, a fire broke out at the Ministry of Social Welfare, and it did not appear that any efforts were made to extinguish it.
Jaime Nebot, the mayor of Guayaquil, Ecuador's second-largest city, appealed for peace and calm and a respect for the transfer of power.
The U.S. ambassador to Venezuela, speaking from Caracas, backed a "democratic" solution.
"The United States supports a concept, and it's an important one, of democracy, specifically constitutional democracy," William Brownfield said. "I hope that the solution will be a democratic and constitutional solution."
Presidential conflicts
Last year, Ecuador marked a quarter-century of civilian rule, but recent years have been marked by instability. The country has had nine presidents since 1996.
Constitutional changes that took effect in 1998 strengthened the executive branch, according to the U.S. State Department, and the office has been the source of continued conflict.
In 1997, Congress replaced President Abdala Bucaram with Fabian Alarcon, who had been president of Congress.
In 2000, a coup led by Gutierrez forced out Alarcon's successor, Jamil Mahuad, and Vice President Gustavo Noboa took Mauad's place. He was succeeded in 2003 by Gutierrez, a former army colonel who campaigned in part on an anti-corruption theme. (Full story)
Since Gutierrez took office in January 2003, Ecuador's economy has been buoyed by higher prices for oil, which accounts for 40 percent of the country's exports and a quarter of its public-sector revenues, according to the CIA's World Factbook.
But the government has done little to limit vulnerability to price swings and financial crises that routinely affect the equatorial nation's 13 million inhabitants.
The United States is Ecuador's main trading partner, and the two nations have maintained close ties, according to the State Department, which said Gutierrez had proposed entering talks with the United States on a free-trade agreement.
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Associated Press contributed to this report.
