http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/oct/01/ecuador-revolt-attempted-coup-or-uprising
Two points that stick out for me upon my first read:
1. "'You can't dismiss the possibility that some opposition figures knew about it and supported it. But if it was a coup attempt, it was hugely amateurish,' said Adam Isacson of the liberal Washington Office on Latin America think tank." [I've worked in coalitions with WOLA before. If not exactly committed revolutionaries, they're hardly lapdogs of imperialism, either.]
2. "Merely showing up at the barracks, said Correa's former security minister Gustavo Larrea, 'was like throwing gasoline on a fire. It elevated the tone of the conflict and, what's more, they took him hostage there. Because had he not gone, nothing would have happened' ... 'Correa's impulsiveness and penchant for direct confrontation were on full display,' said Michael Shifter, president of the Inter-American Dialogue think tank."
-- "Hige sceal þe heardra, heorte þe cenre, mod sceal þe mare, þe ure mægen lytlað."