Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso and his Argentine counterpart Alberto Fernández on April 18, 2022 in Buenos Aires. MARCOS BRINDICCI (AFP)
The government of Ecuador continues the puzzle of the escape from the Argentine embassy in Quito of María de los Ángeles Duarte, minister during the government of Rafael Correa and convicted of corruption. Foreign Minister Juan Carlos Holguín was summoned for explanations by the National Assembly on Wednesday. He revealed details of communications he had had since Monday March 13 with his Argentine counterpart Santiago Cafiero, who informed him that Duarte had fled the residence. “It was negligence at best and complicity at worst,” said the Ecuadorian foreign minister. From Argentina, on the other hand, the strategy was to deny the allegations while softening the dispute.
In a Twitter thread, Foreign Minister Cafiero He said: “Argentina’s deep appreciation for the people of Ecuador is not altered by this temporary disagreement. We are sister nations, united by history and a common future.” He then referred to a “difference of opinion” between Buenos Aires and Quito on the Duarte case, which became apparent when the Lasso government denied the former Correa minister safe passage. “The discrepancy on which we stand ready at all times to shape the action in international law that provides mechanisms for resolving these controversies,” he said. On Thursday, government spokeswoman Gabriela Cerruti followed the same line. He spoke of “dear Ecuadorian people” and said Argentina had “nothing to do with Ecuador’s security issues”. Opposition MPs have asked for Cafiero to be present in Congress so he can explain what happened in Ecuador.
According to the schedule drawn up by the Ecuadorian government, a barbecue was held at the Argentine embassy residence in the capital last weekend. According to Gabriel Fuks, the Argentine ambassador expelled from Quito, the mission’s defense attaché was to be fired. “Then a series of inconsistencies in the information begins,” says Holguín. “The roast was first on Saturday and then on Friday. He didn’t remember when they last saw María de los Ángeles Duarte, whether it was Saturday or Sunday, which could have been Thursday,” the foreign minister told lawmakers.
The Ecuadorian government is convinced that Duarte fled on Friday, only to appear later in Caracas, where he appeared before Argentina’s ambassador to that city, Oscar Laborde. What he doesn’t know yet is the time and how he did it. The suspicion is that he used one of the cars that drove in and out the night of the reception for the defense attachés, some with diplomatic plates. It took 72 hours from the flight for Argentina’s foreign minister to brief Ecuadorian authorities on the incident, although tension began the moment former ambassador Fuks went to the presidential palace in Quito to make statements. “Ambassador Fuks haughtily interrupted me by pointing out that he is not anyone’s jailer nor does he have a role to guard anyone at the residence,” said Ecuador’s Deputy Foreign Minister Luis Bayas when asked for details of how Duarte fled the residence is.
When the former official pleaded for refuge at the Argentine embassy in August 2020, she escaped an eight-year prison sentence on bribery charges. “It entered international jurisdiction, so it was up to the Argentine Republic to exercise oversight of Ms. Duarte’s situation,” Holguín warned. The foreign minister also referred to the asylum granted to him by Argentina in December 2022 on humanitarian – and not political – grounds, in which he asked for safe passage to leave the country. Guillermo Lasso’s government denied this.
Argentina’s deep esteem for the people of Ecuador does not change with this economic disagreement. We are sister nations, united by history and a common future.
— Santiago Cafe (@SantiagoCafiero) March 15, 2023
The matter escalated before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights because Argentina requested precautions for Duarte and her son, who has an Argentine father and passport and lives with her at the embassy. One of the reasons argued by Alberto Fernández’s government was that there had been no contact between the minor and his father; However, when questioned about the visits to the embassy, Fuks said that “Duarte had no restriction on visits, that they could be made at any time and at any time, that the father of Duarte’s son visited him frequently”. Bayas explained. . In fact, the man was at the residence on March 10, the deputy minister added.
This Thursday, Holguín returned to the subject in a television interview. He said that “Ecuador respected them (the Argentines) very much and established confidence that they had custody of Ms. Duarte over their jurisdiction.” “They betrayed that trust,” he said.
The diplomatic escalation with Argentina opened a new front of conflict for Lasso, who is going through a bad political moment. This Wednesday, the Correista Bank of UNES, the Christian Social Party and part of the Democratic Left collected the necessary signatures to send the formal impeachment request to the president, who was being tried by lawmakers for alleged omissions in a system of corruption in public companies was charged. The crisis has also given wings to Rafael Correa.
In an interview with Colombian newspaper El Tiempo, the former president said Duarte had been used by the Lasso government to ask for assistance in exchange for safe conduct. “She sent us messages: if you support me in this, we could release her, and María left the embassy,” he said. Correa will be in Buenos Aires next Thursday, where he will attend the World Human Rights Forum. A day later, Lasso and Fernández will meet in person in the Dominican Republic at the Ibero-American Summit of Heads of State.
Subscribe to the EL PAÍS America newsletter here and receive all the latest news from the region.