A few hours ago, the representatives of the three largest opposition parties (the Christian Social Party, the Democratic Left, and the Pachakutik Movement) announced that they would walk out of Congress in order not to participate in the extra-ordinary legislative session. This has nullified the attempt by members of congress to gather together to discuss the dissolution of the Supreme Court, the issue that has brought Ecuador into the streets against Lucio Gutiérrez.

While President Gutiérrez stays away from the center of the protests, hiding out among his supporters 340 kilometers away from Quito, the members of Ecuador’s Congress have not been able to meet to analyze the problems facing the nation, especially the issue of the Supreme Court, which since December 8 has generated headed rhetoric between legislators and the Gutiérrez administration.

The failed session, which was scheduled for 4 pm Quito time, does not mean that opposition parties have changed their position on the Supreme Court appointments, which they consider to be a crude attempt on Gutiérrez’s part to control the entire structure of the Ecuadorian state.

Meanwhile, the people in Ecuador’s capital city continue to organize through Radio La Luna to continue demonstrating against the president. In fact, this afternoon it was predicted that the people would approach the Congress building to throw trash in a protest tactic known in Quito as “el basurazo,” to repudiate the total ineffectiveness of the political class in attending to their needs and demands.

The Congress and Carondelet Palace, right in the center of the city, are surrounded by repressive state forces… we’ll see what comes next in this story.