According to Venezuela’s Globovision, Lucio Gutiérrez is indeed in the Brazilian embassy, where he has requested political asylum in that country. He seems to have arrived there by helicopter after protesters prevented him from leaving the coutnry by airplane. Protesters hope to prevent him from leaving the country, in order to bring charges against him in Ecuadorian courts.

It is still difficult to know quite what is happening in the wake of Gutiérrez’s abandoning the presidency. Voices on Radio La Luna, one of the main forces behind the movement in Quito, report rumors that members of the military high command, who earlier had declared their support for Gutiérrez despite the obvious popular rejection of his rule, have decided not to recognizes Palacio as the legitimate president of Ecuador.

It is not clear where Palacio is at the moment, and for some time now he has not appeared at the presidential palace, Carondelet, or made any statement. Callers from the streets have also reported pro-Gutiérrez agents trying to provoke violence in the streets. All this has led some to wonder if the military is preparing a coup d’etat against the man who legally took the presidency today with the backing of Congress.

Hopefully, Palacio’s whereabouts will be known soon and nasty rumors of a military coup can be written off as just that.