A strange pair appeared on NTN 24, the right-wing Colombian television channel aligned to the Fox Broadcasting Company the U.S. A few hours after the coup attempt in Quito, Ecuador, CIA agent Carlos Alberto Montaner, a fugitive from Cuban justice for acts of terrorism, joined with one of the leaders of the failed Ecuadorian coup, ex-Lieutenant Colonel Lucio Gutiérrez, to attack President Rafael Correa.

Montaner opened the show by denigrating the head of state with lies like this, "If they killed him (President Correa) right that moment (…) that would have started a blood bath in the country. Why did he do that? That kind of thing is not done. That is not presidential behavior—removing his tie and challenging police officers," he said.

Describing the head of state as a hot head and a "person who has a lot of difficulty controlling himself," Montaner —known precisely for these characteristics—accused him of having met with the rebelling police in order to provoke them. "He didn’t go there to find a consensus, or to talk, he went to defeat them," he charged.

As arrogant as ever, Montaner went on to ridicule Correa as someone who wanted to give himself "the image of a president full of testosterone, capable of controlling the situation...and among certain people, who are very primitive, who don’t have much of an education, perhaps that would arouse some sympathy."

Speaking with an unaccustomed deference to the deposed head of state Lucio Gutiérrez, "Mr. ex-president," Montaner asked him with wonderful incredulity, "Did you really intend to overthrow Rafael Correa?"

And the coup conspirator replied with great solemnity, "Greetings to the entire democratic world…I refute President Correa’s assertions that there was an attempted coup in Ecuador. There was nothing more than a protest by ranking police, a protest by one police troop."

He continued with allegations about the "extremely poor economic management by President Correa and "his attempt through a law to reduce police wages."

"We have a president who does not tolerate opposition," Gutiérrez maintained, speaking to his sympathetic interviewer before expressing his concern as to the fate of his conspirators, "What is going happen to the opposition? Who will is going to speak on behalf of the opposition, which is already beginning to be persecuted…?

And Montaner added," That is the problem, that there are no international mechanisms to defend the opposition…"

On the margin of his media news shows, Montaner’s is known for his fanatic support of the most extreme elements of the Cuban-American mafia.

Last year, in the wake of the coup d’état against Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, June 28, he became an fervent supporter of the dictator Roberto Micheletti, along with U.S. Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, and another Cuban-American terrorist and CIA collaborator, Armando Valladares.

Montaner showed up repeatedly in Tegucigalpa to "defend human rights," and at the same time to applaud the fascist Honduran regime when it unleashed its police on demonstrations by the National Resistance Front.

A graduate of the Inter-American Defense College (IADC) in Washington, Lucio Gutiérrez participated in the January 21, 2000 coup against constitutionally elected President Jamil Mahuad. In 2002, he was elected to the presidency. A popular protest removed him from power on April 20, 2005, in the midst of violent repression that led to the death of Chilean photo-reporter Julio García, and hundreds of people being injured.

Tele Noticias 24 Horas (NTN24) is a right-wing news channel owned by the Colombian RCN Televisión network, which broadcasts from its studios in Bogotá, Colombia.