Interview with the Foreign Minister of Ecuador: "The Argentine ambassador has collaborated with a criminal to evade justice"

Ecuador's Foreign Minister, Juan Carlos Holguín, gave an exclusive interview to

this Saturday in which he spoke about the growing tension between his government and Argentina over the escape of María de los Angeles Duarte Pesantes -a former Ecuadorian official who was hosted at the Argentine embassy in Quito to evade a trial for corruption - and his subsequent appearance at the Argentine embassy in Venezuela. 

Due to this clash, the government of Guillermo Lasso declared the 

"persona non grata" , who was expelled from Ecuador.

Outside Quito, Fuks called Holguín a "liar" because he blames him for the escape of Duarte Pesantes, who took a photo last Monday with the ambassador to Venezuela, Oscar Laborde.

Argentina reciprocated the measure by expelling the Ecuadorian ambassador in Buenos Aires, Xavier Monge.

Former Minister of Transportation and Public Works of Rafael Correa, Duarte Pesantes entered the Argentine embassy in August 2020, escaping an eight-year prison sentence for acts of corruption for which the former Ecuadorian president, a friend of the vice president, is also accused

.  

- Foreign Minister, Gabriel Fuks says that you are a liar, that he was not negligent, that he did not free the area for Duarte Pesantes to escape or have complicity. What do you say?

-I will not refer to the unfortunate declarations of Mr. Fuks.

He was always treated with a lot of education and respect by everyone, as is customary in our country.

Argentina has had great ambassadors in Ecuador throughout our history.

We are left with the image and memory of them, who always acted under the principle of non-intervention and good faith in their actions.

In addition, I am sure that those who come in the future will also represent those principles of the great Argentine nation, which our country loves very much.

-And Fuks?

- Mr. Fuks will have to answer to his country about his performance, which today proves to be political and not diplomatic.

I can tell you that here, the Ecuadorian State -not the government- has a decision made after a reflection not by this Foreign Minister, but together with former Foreign Ministers of the Republic and some members of our Advisory Board on Foreign Relations.

It was decided to declare him a "Non Grata" person, after analyzing that the person who served as Argentina's ambassador gave imprecise and contradictory versions, on the three occasions when Ecuadorian government authorities met with him.

The inaccuracies, doubts, contradictions made it clear that Mr. Fuks was hiding the truth.

In our Foreign Office, all those who attended to Mr. Fuks are career diplomats.

-Five days after the escape of Duarte Pesantes, what do you suspect happened? 

-We flatly rule out any complicity of authorities, except for that which has existed within the Embassy and it is evident to us due to the various inconsistencies in Mr. Fuks' versions, denied or corrected by his own authorities in the course of the explanations.

There are ongoing investigations by the competent bodies.

This government is respectful of the different functions of the State, and we expect a quick and transparent investigation.

I am able to mention that this Foreign Ministry has confirmed that there are no regular records of their departure at any land border, or at airports.

Even according to official information provided by the Colombian authorities, who have collaborated effectively with our country and we are very grateful for it, it is that Mrs. Duarte has not passed through there either,

-So what happened?

-What is striking is that the preliminary information provided by Chancellor Cafiero, who I must admit has always behaved like a gentleman in any situation, is that Mr. Fuks would have noticed the leak on Monday morning. tomorrow.

Later, Mr. Fuks on more than one occasion stated that he did not remember when he realized it.

Finally, on Tuesday I answered a call from a high-ranking Argentine authority on Mr. Fuks' own phone (Clarín learned from Argentine sources that it was Alberto Fernández), in which it was mentioned that the Argentine authorities learned on Saturday that she had left , and that this was an operation carried out from a third country.

That is, they notified Ecuador after three days.

I detailed these statements, as mandated by the laws of Ecuador,

before the Oversight Commission of the National Assembly, which summoned me this week.

That is why I have said that in the best of cases, Argentina has not acted with due diligence, since Duarte's stay in his embassy was his obligation according to the treaties.

And that in the worst case, it is an act of bad faith, since Mr. Fuks has collaborated with a criminal to evade justice.

- Is it true that Fuks refused to deliver the cameras of the residence and the exterior and the registration of entries and exits?

-That's how it is.

As we have declared before the Oversight Commission of the National Assembly, the former ambassador today said at first that there were no cameras.

Now his own statements show his lack of adherence to the truth.

And this is serious.

Look, the same IACHR rapporteur for Ecuador asked on Tuesday that Argentina provide the Ecuadorian authorities with all the information and collaboration, in order to investigate the circumstances of the escape of a person who wants to evade compliance with a sentence for corruption.

-Fuks denies having asked for the police to withdraw and says that there was always a patrol car whose batteries did not work... 

-I have been able to verify that he and his team made requests in November and March regarding the security protocols for the exteriors of his Embassy.

It is worth mentioning that all Embassies in our country have external police security, according to diplomatic conventions.

The Ecuadorian State always acted with a principle of good faith and we expected reciprocity in the actions of its authorities, especially those who served as Ambassador.

Regarding the patrol car, although it is not a responsibility of my State portfolio, I have seen the public explanations of the National Police that it was a patrol car that acted as a "hammer point", that is to say that it had to be at a fixed point, safeguarding citizen security.

There are many of those patrol cars at a fixed point, that is, they should not move,

-Reserved leaks of your presentation in Congress say that you spoke with Alberto Fernández and that he told you that the escape was organized by Venezuela.

Is it so?

What did the Argentine president really tell you?

-As I commented, I appeared on March 15 before the Supervisory Commission of the National Assembly, as the law dictates, when a Minister is summoned.

And in that session, based on the same Organic Law of the Ecuadorian Legislative Function, I requested that the second part of the session be declared as reserved, since it is my obligation as a public official to give all the information I know.

When dealing with issues that I considered diplomatically sensitive, I had to do so under reservation as required by law.

My request was accepted unanimously by the members of the Commission, who voted at that time.

Therefore, the information that we deliver as confidential and secret, was provided under the precaution of keeping the confidentiality that the law provides.

You will understand that I cannot give you more details.

-The Argentine government and Rafael Correa himself affirm that President Lasso told Fernández that he was willing to give Duarte Pesantes a safe-conduct as part of an impunity deal.

It's true?

-Former President Correa, who has been a fugitive from Ecuadorian justice since the time of his own vice president's government, is lying once again.

Out of respect for the State authorities, as he is a former president of my country, I prefer not to comment further, since they are issues of our internal policy.

The facts speak for themselves, and the illegally requested safe-conduct by the Argentine government was immediately denied.

I can tell you that neither President Lasso nor anyone could ever offer safe conduct to someone who has a firm conviction for bribery.

But that's what they said

-Ecuador made clear its position attached to the law in its refusal to the request for safe-conduct from the Argentine Government, which also requested it for a supposed "humanitarian" issue.

We also informed the IACHR, to which we have sent a report this week, since Argentina mentioned that the minor could not see his father, and now his authorities have mentioned to us that the child frequently saw the father of the.

This element is also serious, since they have tried to use the figure of asylum to avoid a sentence.

The worst thing for our countries and for our region is impunity.

And as the IACHR itself says, the lack of effective punishment creates an environment of impunity that will always foster corruption.

A pity.

look also

A strong earthquake in Ecuador of magnitude 7 was also felt in Peru: at least 14 dead