UPDATE 3-Ecuador to review oil deals, overhaul debt - Correa

(recast, adds Correa and analyst's comments, details)

By Alonso Soto

QUITO, March 14 (Reuters) - Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa said on Wednesday he would rework oil and mining deals and restructure foreign debt, undeterred from his leftist push by a fierce power struggle with the country's Congress.

The president has rattled Wall Street with promises to limit foreign debt payments and end the on an air base used by the U.S. military. He also slammed U.S. President George W. Bush, calling his foreign policy "terrible."

"We are not going to make our country kneel in the face of foreign investment," he told foreign reporters in Quito.

The U.S-educated economist, a friend of U.S. foe Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, kept up his tough rhetoric on foreign debt, using his recurrent pledge of "life before debt."

"We do not exclude not paying. We will pay if the conditions of the country allow," he said, adding that "illegitimate" debt would be identified soon.

Correa made the payment on a foreign debt coupon that came due in February, but has left investors guessing over whether he will settle the next, due in May.

Correa is pushing ahead with his revamping as he gains the upper hand in a fight with Congress, which has helped unseat his last three predecessors.

More than half of Ecuador's lawmakers have refused to accept an electoral-court decision that fired them. They had sought to block the president from holding a referendum to weaken the powers of Congress, widely perceived as corrupt.

Correa backs the court's decision and said he might call for a special congressional session to replace the 57 fired legislators with their existing alternates from the same parties rather than hold an election for each seat, a move seen watering down the influence of some opposition firebrands.

"As far as we are concerned, there is no crisis," Correa said. "Congress is the one trying to break the constitutional framework."

The referendum proposes a special assembly meant to lessen political influence in courts and force lawmakers to live in the small constituencies they represent.

A civil judge on Wednesday ordered a temporary suspension of the decision to fire the lawmakers, but the election court has often ignored rulings from lower courts.

The feud with Congress erupted into fistfights and scuffles with police on Monday as Correa faces his biggest challenge since he took office in January.

TARGETING OIL DEALS?

Correa did not immediately specify whether he was eyeing any particular energy or mineral deals for renegotiation and said the review of contracts had yet to start.

Brazil's Petrobras (PETR4.SA) and Spain's Repsol (REP.MC) are among the main operators in South America's No. 5 oil producer.

Ecuador is not currently active in extracting precious minerals, but some Canadian companies including Corriente Resources Inc. (CTQ.TO) (ETQ.A) have started exploring for copper and gold.

Goldman Sachs economist Alberto Ramos wrote in a research note that Correa's comments "could contribute to a gradual deterioration of the credit's fundamentals."

Correa also reiterated his country's intention to return to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, which it left in 1992.