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Ailing Ecuador Leader Still Calls Shots 

A painting of Jesus looks down on former President Leon Febres Cordero's king-sized bed. On the floor are eight pairs of cowboy boots and a pile of saddles. Hanging on the wall are two repeating shotguns and two submachine guns.

Febres Cordero has survived five bypass heart operations, two bouts with cancer, three bullet wounds and a chain-smoking habit. At 75 he might be expected to take to a rocking chair. But the political power broker known as "the owner" of Ecuador has no intention of fading away. . . . .

"My best friends are my cigarettes and my pistols. They don't ask for anything and they're always ready," he said with a big grin

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