Editing Lucio Gutiérrez (section)

== Post-Presidency ==
[[Brazil]] offered Gutiérrez asylum and arranged air transport out of Ecuador for the former president.<ref>{{cite news
  | title = Ex-Ecuador leader granted asylum
  | publisher = [[BBC News]]
  | date = 21 April 2005
| url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4468917.stm
  }}
</ref> He arrived via [[Rio Branco, Acre|Rio Branco]] on 24 April 2005. He renounced his asylum, then went to [[Peru]] and the United States. In September he was reported to be seeking political asylum in [[Colombia]]. This was offered on 4 October only to be refused by Gutiérrez on 13 October. Then on 15 October he voluntarily returned to Ecuador vowing to "use all legal and constitutional means to retake power." He was arrested at the [[Eloy Alfaro International Airport]]<ref>{{cite web | title =Aeropuerto Internacional Eloy Alfaro de Manta | publisher =AEROPUERTOMANTA.com | language =es | url =http://www.aeropuertomanta.com/ | access-date =16 September 2013 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20130921055131/http://www.aeropuertomanta.com/ | archive-date =21 September 2013 | url-status =dead }}</ref>  in [[Manta, Ecuador|Manta]], after arriving in a chartered [[SARPA]] plane with his brother, Gilmar Gutiérrez, his companion-in-arms Fausto Cobo, and some collaborators.<ref>{{cite web | last =Robles | first =Robinson | title =Minutos antes de entregarse, Gutierrez habló con la Embajada Americana 2005 | language =es | publisher =YouTube | date =6 May 2012 | url =https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rC-rNz7xnSU | access-date = 16 September 2013}}</ref> He was taken to a prison in Quito and locked in a [[Supermax|maximum security]] cell on charges of attempting to subvert Ecuador's internal security by repeatedly proclaiming to the international media that he continued to be the legitimate President of the Republic of Ecuador.

On 3 March 2006, a judge in Ecuador dismissed the charges against Gutiérrez. A very notorious political agreement ensued between Gutiérrez and the PSC. Gutiérrez and the deputies of PSP sided with the PSC in order to gain a majority for controlling the country's Constitutional Court. Upon his release, Gutiérrez thanked the [[Ecuadorian people]] for their support and vowed that he would participate and win the presidential election in October.

On 15 October 2006, his PSP, led by Gilmar Gutiérrez, got the third place in the national election with 17% of the total votes, with the support of the economically disadvantaged, landless farmers and indigenous population.

In the [[2009 Ecuadorian general election|2009 Presidential Election]], Lucio Gutiérrez ran for [[president of Ecuador]] under the flag of PSP.  In the presidential election held on 26 April, he came in second with 26.8% of the vote, losing to [[Rafael Correa]].  Lucio Gutiérrez declared [[election fraud]] even though all the polls conducted well before election day gave a great advantage to Rafael Correa, and even when international observers from the [[European Union]] declared total [[Transparency (behavior)|transparency]] of the election process.

He was again running for president [[2021 Ecuadorian general election|in 2021]], obtaining 1.8% of the vote.