54. On September 30, 2010, members of the Ecuadorian National Police began a protest in their barracks, suspending their working day, blocking highways and preventing access to the Quito Parliament. In this context, the then President went to the Quito Regiment, but when he was about to leave the regiment, the policemen did not allow him to leave, so he was taken by his security team to the Police Hospital, where he was surrounded by policemen who prevented him from leaving. After a confrontation between the police and the army’s special forces, the then President was transported from the Hospital. During these events two police officers, two soldiers, and a university student died. 55. As a result of this event, Ecuador was immersed in a political crisis that was described as a "clear attempt to alter democratic institutions" by the then representative of the government of Ecuador before the Organization of American States. 73 At the time, the Inter-American Commission condemned “any attempt to alter the constitutional and democratic order in Ecuador”. 74 56. The events that occurred on September 30, 2010 generated notorious public interest, causing various interpretations and reactions of public opinion in Ecuador. In this context, on February 6, 2011, Emilio Palacio Urrutia published an article entitled "NO to lies", in which he spoke about the aforementioned facts, in the following terms: This week, for the second time, the Dictatorship reported through one of its spokespersons that the Dictator is considering the possibility of pardoning the criminals who rose up on September 30, for which he is considering a pardon. I don't know if the proposal includes me (according to the dictatorial networks, I was one of the instigators of the coup); but if so, I reject it. I understand that the Dictator (devout Christian, man of peace) does not miss an opportunity to pardon criminals. He pardoned the drug mules, took pity on the murderers imprisoned in the Litoral Penitentiary, asked the citizens to let themselves be robbed so that there would be no victims, cultivated a great friendship with the land invaders and turned them into legislators, until they betrayed him. But Ecuador is a secular state that does not allow the use faith as a legal basis to exempt criminals from paying their debts. If I committed a crime, I demand that they prove it to me: otherwise, I do not expect any judicial pardon, but due apologies. What is really happening is that the Dictator has finally understood (or his lawyers made him understand) that he has no way of proving the alleged crime of September 30, since everything was the product of an improvised script, on the run, to hide the Dictator’s irresponsibility on going into a rebel barracks, opening his shirt and shouting out for them to kill him, like a ‘cachacascán’ wrestler straining in his show in a circus tent in some forgotten town. At this point, all the “evidence” to accuse the “coup plotters” has been unraveled. The Dictator acknowledges that the terrible idea of going to the Quito Regiment and forcing his way in was his. But in that case no one could have been ready to assassinate him since no one expected him. The Dictator swears that the former director of the Police Hospital closed the doors to prevent him from entering. But then there was no plot there either, because they didn't even want to see his face. 73 Cf. Permanent Council of the OAS. Permanent Council of the OAS repudiates events in Ecuador and supports the government of President Correa, September 30, 2010. 74 Cf. Press Release NQ 99/10. IACHR condemns any attempt to alter the democratic order in Ecuador. 21