QUITO, Ecuador -- New President Gustavo Noboa faces an uphill task to
                  win the trust of the country's military, which brought him to power last week.

                  The 62-year-old former vice president assumed the civilian leadership of
                  Ecuador on Saturday when the armed forces overthrew unpopular President
                  Jamil Mahuad. The ouster came after protests from impoverished highland
                  Indians spiraled into a brief military rebellion.

                  But corruption and deep poverty -- conditions that led young military
                  officers to support the Indians' protests against Mahuad -- will be difficult for
                  Noboa to overcome.

                  Danger of another coup?

                  Army officers resent the rampant corruption that characterizes Ecuador's
                  political class and the government mismanagement that has led to their
                  salaries being eaten up by inflation and devaluation. A colonel's pay has
                  dropped from the equivalent of $1,000 a month (U.S.) to $250.

                  "We can't say there won't be another coup if we continue with the very
                  grave economic and social difficulties," said Luis Eladio Proano, a civilian
                  adviser to the armed forces.

                  The military is one of the few public institutions that enjoys widespread
                  support in Ecuador. It is known for honesty, compassion and providing
                  health services and education to impoverished communities long ignored by
                  the government.

                  As Ecuador's political leaders have become more and more discredited,
                  Ecuadoreans have looked to the armed forces as the only public institution
                  they can trust. An August poll showed that 65 percent of Ecuadoreans favor
                  the military. Politicians tallied only 6 percent.

                  But with the events of last week, Ecuadoreans are wondering how much
                  longer the military will stay on the sidelines.

                  On Friday, as many as 150 junior officers, most of them colonels, joined
                  hundreds of Indian protesters who stormed Congress and proclaimed a new
                  governing junta to fight corruption and work to improve the lives of the poor.
                  The junta was composed of Indian leader Antonio Vargas, Col. Lucio
                  Gutierrez and a former Supreme Court president.

                  But early Saturday, under pressure from the U.S. government and
                  confronting the opposition of more than 20 regional commanders who
                  rejected the overthrow of civilian rule, armed forces chief Gen. Carlos
                  Mendoza announced he was turning power over to Vice President Noboa.

                  Speaking at a news conference Monday, Vargas agreed that the problems
                  that led to the coup haven't gone away.

                  If Noboa doesn't work to end corruption, the Indian leader predicted "a
                  great social explosion that could lead to civil war" in three to six months.
                  "And that would not be our fault."

                  For now, Noboa enjoys mass support

                   Leading pollster Cedatos reported on Monday that 51 percent of
                   Ecuadoreans supported Noboa. Quito, the capital city that last week
                   was filled with Indian protesters, on Monday was returning to normal.
                   Traffic was heavy, and office workers were out in force.

                  Noboa said he will continue Mahuad's radical plans to revive the economy
                  by adopting the U.S. dollar as Ecuador's currency to rebuild the economy, a
                  program considered vital for the president's political survival.

                  He said he would announce by Tuesday key ministers in his government,
                  including the important finance and energy chiefs, who will have the task of
                  pushing through a dollar plan.

                  "I am strict when it comes to complying with one's duties," Noboa said
                  Sunday in his first interview with foreign media. "Ecuador has to modernize,
                  privatize. But to say that is repetitive. Now we have to really do it."

                  "I will use an iron hand when necessary," Noboa added to foreign reporters
                  Monday, speaking in metaphors and quoting lyrics of Ecuadorian songs,
                  which often drew laughs from journalists.

                  Interior Minister Francisco Huerta hinted on Sunday that the government
                  was also mulling the adoption of a dollar-convertibility arrangement like the
                  one in Argentina, where the peso is pegged 1-to-1 with the dollar. Every
                  peso in circulation must be backed by a dollar in reserves.

                  Some Ecuadoreans remain skeptical

                  Some Ecuadoreans were less confident that Noboa will bring about an
                  economic turnaround. Rosa Maria, who has three rubber bullets lodged in
                  her leg as a result of Indian demonstrations in Quito last week, doesn't see
                  her life changing much.

                  "Nothing is going to change," Maria remarked as she limped to the bus that
                  was to take her to a clinic in a village nearby. "Not with this president, who
                  is only going to keep policies that make the poor poorer and the rich richer."

                   Correspondent Harris Whitbeck, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this
                                             report.