ECUADOR: Ecuador mourns first female defence minister who was killed in helicopter crash

Ecuador's President Rafael Correa called on Thursday (January 25) for three days of national mourning a day after the country's first female defence minister and her daughter were killed in a mid-air helicopter collision. Officials said soldiers cordoned off the crash site near a military base until an investigative team would arrive. The two helicopters involved in the crash reportedly collided during a night-time exercise. The accident shook Correa's 10-day-old government and briefly deflated tensions between the leftist and Congress over his plans to rewrite the constitution in the unstable Andean country, where three presidents were ousted in the last decade. Correa has called for an investigation with the help of international aviation experts to clarify the deaths of Minister Guadalupe Larriva, her teenage daughter and five military personnel aboard the two Gazelle helicopters. He said that he had called on the French government to send two technicians from the company that builds the helicopters and also asked for Chilean Air Force investigators. Larriva, a 50-year-old former teacher and leader of the socialist political party supporting Correa, and her daughter died on Wednesday night (January 24) in the crash in the coastal province of Manabi after a military air practice. The casket was taken to a funeral chapel set at the Military School in Quito. Later on Thursday the burials will take place in Larriva's hometown of Cuenca. Correa wanted Larriva, one of a few civilians to lead Ecuador's 176-year-old military, to control an institution that has played a part in toppling three elected presidents by publicly withdrawing its support for them. In a short news briefing Wednesday night, Correa told Ecuadoreans to join him in prayer. Larriva, one of the most popular members of the Cabinet, had promised to strengthen presidential control of military ranks, improve salaries for the armed forces and make the officer promotions system more transparent.

ITN Source | January 26, 2007

Tags:. .investigation. .few. .builds. .base. .wednesday