Ecuador military bosses resign to protest Correa

By Carlos Andrade

QUITO, April 9 (Reuters) - Ecuador's top military officers quit on Wednesday, a day after President Rafael Correa fired his defense minister, deepening tensions between the leftist leader and the armed forces that helped oust his predecessor.

The leftist president named Javier Ponce, a close personal aide and ally, to replace Defense Minister Wellington Sandoval whom he had criticized for mishandling a border crisis involving Colombia and Venezuela last month.

The crisis erupted after after Colombian military forces killed a leftist rebel leaders hiding in a camp across the frontier inside Ecuador.

Correa, an ally of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a fierce foe of U.S. influence in Latin America, alleged parts of his country's military intelligence service had been manipulated by the CIA.

"We have sent the president our resignation (letters)... because of the questioning of the behavior of the military and I don't agree with that," army commander Gen. Guillermo Vasconez told reporters.

Ecuador's military has often taken a key role in its volatile politics, but Correa's popularity and promise to leave the armed forces largely unreformed should help shield him from major fallout, experts said.

Correa, who has promised to curb the influence of the country's elites, won the military's initial backing with salary hikes and appointments to state jobs. But he may now be in a weaker position to implement some of his policies.

"The apparent removal of military support weakens the long-run project of Rafael Correa," said Carlos Espinosa, a security expert with Quito's San Francisco University.

"This doesn't mean a coup, but shows that Correa will have to be more careful with his actions because he doesn't have military support."

Ecuador's armed forces withdrew their backing for the last three elected presidents, helping to topple them amid congressional and street protests.

Correa has scolded the military and police for not delivering timely intelligence during the diplomatic spat with Bogota over the Colombian raid last month. He said the CIA was getting a hold of confidential information gathered in Ecuador and sharing it with Colombia, a U.S. ally in South America.