Quito, Ecuador ? Brazil’s decision to grant asylum to Ecuador’s deposed President Lucio Gutierrez provoked outrage Thursday among many Ecuadoreans who demanded that the politician remain and account for alleged abuses of power.

Gutierrez, who was fired by Congress on Wednesday after a week of protests calling for his removal, was waiting at the Brazilian Embassy residency for a flight to Brazil, said Brazilian Ambassador Sergio Florencio Sobrinho.

After a meeting between government officials Thursday night, the ambassador said Ecuador was not ready to grant permission for Gutierrez to leave the country.

Lawmakers swore in Vice President Alfredo Palacio to replace Gutierrez on Wednesday, and he immediately promised to hold a referendum and constitutional assembly to create a new state structure.

“People have lost trust in their representatives,” Palacio said in a nationally televised address from the Defense Ministry Wednesday night, with the four members of the military high command standing behind him. “Our state is decrepit, obsolete.”

Palacio, a 66-year-old cardiologist, broke with Gutierrez shortly after their election in 2002. On Thursday he installed five new ministers in the 15-member Cabinet.