Ecuador’s interior minister resigned Wednesday as protests over a U.S. free trade plan spread from the Andean highlands to the oil-producing southeast jungle, where police clashed with demonstrators. In the face of the growing unrest, President Alfredo Palacio went on national television and urged Ecuadorans to “close ranks” to defend the country’s democracy. Palacio said the protests were “the culmination of deceptive politics that seeks to perversely tear apart the nation.” Full Story