By JUAN FORERO
 
QUITO, Ecuador, April 22 - The fledgling government of President Alfredo Palacio says it will take its time to decide whether to permit the former president, who was removed from power on Wednesday, to leave the country for Brazil, which has granted him asylum.

The ex-president, Lucio Gutiérrez, who is accused of having violated the Constitution by meddling in the Supreme Court, remained in the Brazilian ambassador's residence on Friday as protesters outside demanded that he remain in Ecuador to face criminal charges.

The attorney general's office has issued a warrant for his arrest, accusing him of a violent crackdown that killed two people in the mounting protests that led to his removal.

"Brazil, which considers him an asylum candidate, has granted asylum, but we cannot grant safe passage for now," Antonio Parra Gil, the foreign minister, said in comments carried by Ecuadorean news media. "We, before making whatever decision, are going to analyze the situation."

Mr. Parra said that Ecuador was obliged to turn over the ex-president, but said Ecuadoreans were "tired of the presidents who have turned into real thieves; they ask for asylum and then the countries give them asylum."

Indeed, Mr. Gutiérrez's possible departure has angered many people who are accustomed to seeing former presidents - those ousted and those who have finished their terms - flee to other countries to evade charges. Government officials also want to investigate whether Mr. Gutiérrez has stolen funds, which most Ecuadoreans believe is a tradition among departing politicians.

"They steal the money and they leave," said Salvador Quishpe Lozano, a congressman and member of the left-leaning Pachakutik Party. "Governments needs to keep in mind who is being granted asylum."

Mr. Palacio's government, which took over Wednesday soon after Mr. Gutiérrez fled the presidential palace, is facing pressure to show it is different from past Ecuadorean administrations. At the same time, the government faces the challenge of winning international recognition from its neighbors and the United States, who want to determine if Mr. Gutiérrez's abrupt removal violated the Constitution.

The Organization of American States, meeting in Washington, voted Friday to send a commission to Quito to study the circumstances.

Mr. Gutiérrez, in his first comments since fleeing the palace, called his removal "unconstitutional" in a tape played on TeleAmazonas. He did not elaborate, but said he had been removed because he tried to crack down on the "oligarchy," forcing the rich to pay taxes. He also said he had not committed any crimes.

"I am not a thief," he said.

But it was Mr. Gutiérrez's assistance to another former president, Abdalá Bucaram Ortiz, who is wanted here on a range of corruption charges, that led to his downfall. An overhaul of the Supreme Court by Mr. Gutiérrez's congressional allies permitted an interim court to take over, which in March cleared Mr. Bucaram of charges and permitted him to return to Ecuador from exile.

Mr. Bucaram, 53, a flamboyant leader who as president recorded a CD called "Madman in Love," earlier this week sounded supremely confident that his legal troubles were over thanks to Mr. Gutiérrez and the interim court.

"I'm a happy man," he said in an interview in his home, calling the court the best Ecuador had had in 40 years.

But with Mr. Gutiérrez's government gone, Mr. Bucaram quickly abandoned his home and is believed to have fled the country.