--- description: QUITO, Ecuador: After voting "El Loco" out of the presidency, Ecuador's lawmakers are discovering that in their country, "El Presidente" is a very common name.... title: Musical Presidents image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [U.S.](/section/us/) # Musical Presidents by [Frank Pellegrini](/author/frank-pellegrini/) Feb 7, 1997 5:00 AM CUT by [Frank Pellegrini](/author/frank-pellegrini/) Feb 7, 1997 5:00 AM CUT QUITO, Ecuador: After voting “El Loco” out of the presidency, Ecuador’s lawmakers are discovering that in their country, “El Presidente” is a very common name. When Congress voted 44-34 Thursday night to oust President Abdala Bucaram for “mental incapacity” after two days of massive strikes and protests, the streets of Quito erupted in celebration. The legislature quickly swore in its own leader, Fabian Alarcon, as interim president pending new elections. But after the vote, a defiant Bucaram barricaded himself inside the national palace, surrounded by troops in combat uniforms, saying he won’t turn over the government to “congressional conspirators.” To further complicate matters, Bucaram’s vice president, Rosalia Arteaga, issued a decree saying she was assuming the presidency. All three claim, as president, to have military enforcement at their disposal. Commanders of the army, air force, navy and national police were quick to stress their neutrality. “This situation is very serious. There must be a rapid solution. There cannot be a power vacuum,” said Gen. Paco Moncayo, head of the army. In Ecuador, where economic hardship and bumbling politicians have left many citizens nostalgic for military rule, the immensely popular general might neatly fit such a vacancy. But Moncayo, calling for a “legal solution,” insisted “the armed forces are not going to take power.” Six months after electing “El Loco,” Ecuadorians saw fit to run him out. Now their democracy has sprung three heads. Unless a political solution is reached, the military may end up choosing their own commander-in-chief. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/6929704/musical-presidents/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/6929704/musical-presidents/"},"headline":"Musical Presidents","datePublished":"1997-02-07T05:00:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-22T07:25:58.712Z","description":"QUITO, Ecuador: After voting \"El Loco\" out of the presidency, Ecuador's lawmakers are discovering that in their country, \"El Presidente\" is a very common name....","url":"https://time.com/archive/6929704/musical-presidents/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Frank Pellegrini","url":"https://time.com/author/frank-pellegrini/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/archive/6929704/musical-presidents/","name":"Musical Presidents"}}]}] ```