A group of representatives from Juntos por el Cambio presented a draft resolution in Congress for Foreign Minister
Santiago Cafiero to present himself to explain the escape of former Ecuadorian minister María de los Ángeles Duarte, convicted of corruption
and granted asylum in the Embassy from Argentina in Quito.
"We learned that Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero informed his Ecuadorian counterpart, Juan Carlos Holguín, that the former Minister of Transportation and Public Works, who was sheltering in the Argentine diplomatic headquarters in Quito, fled from the Embassy on Monday, March 13." expressed Ricardo Buryaille.
The radical legislator for Formosa stated that the fact represents a situation of
"very high institutional gravity"
and that the official has to give the pertinent explanations.
"Duarte had been with his son at our Embassy in Ecuador, in the city of Quito, since 2020. The current national government gave him diplomatic asylum at the beginning of December last year, after entering our headquarters under the figure of 'guest for humanitarian reasons'.
The conventions that regulate diplomatic asylum exclude the possibility of granting asylum to people convicted of common crimes,” said Buryaile.
On Tuesday, the Argentine ambassador in Quito, Gabriel Fuks, was expelled by the government of Guillermo Lasso and must leave that country within the next 72 hours.
Until now, Foreign Minister Cafiero has expressed himself through social networks to question a newspaper article from the Infobae site, which recounted the diplomatic interdict.
"The deep appreciation of Argentina for the people of Ecuador does not change with this conjunctural disagreement. We are brother nations united by history and by a common future," the official tweeted.
In addition, he explained that Duarte's presence at the embassy, since August 2020, created a "situation that violated his rights" and those of his minor son, which led to a request for safe conduct.
"Ecuador's rejection of the request for the safe-conduct makes the difference of opinion clear. A discrepancy on which at all times we express willingness to frame the action in international law, which offers solution mechanisms for these controversies," added Cafiero.
Duarte was sentenced in 2020 to eight years in prison for bribery against the public administration.
Said case revealed an irregular financing plot of the Alianza País movement, the political coalition headed by former President Rafael Correa, who was also sentenced, and which had the then Minister of Transportation and Public Works as one of its main protagonists.
The initiative led by Buryaille was also accompanied by Karina Banfi, Pedro Galimberti, Roberto Sánchez, Gabriela Lena, Soledad Carrizo, Gerardo Cipolini, Carlos Zapata, Marcela Coli, Juan Martín, Lidia Ascárate and Pablo Torello.
Harsh statement from politicians, academics and human rights leaders
Amid the controversy and questioning, the Argentine Forum for Democracy in the Region (FADER) published a harsh statement in which it also demands that Cafiero give "an immediate and clear explanation
.
"
"How did it happen? Was there complicity on the part of our officials?" they ask themselves in the text signed by politicians, academics and human rights leaders.
They warn that "the current foreign policy is a shame for Argentines" and that the government provoked "a diplomatic conflict" with Ecuador while strengthening "relations with the dictatorship of Nicolás Maduro."
They insist on the request that Ambassador Fucks, Cafiero and President Alberto Fernández himself give explanations.
look too
Diplomatic rupture with Ecuador: the two ambassadors are expelled for the Argentine defense of a woman convicted of corruption
How Ecuador communicated the expulsion of the Argentine ambassador Gabriel Fuks: "We give him a prudent time for his departure from the country"