Deputies: the PRO requested the arrest of Cafiero for the escape of the former Minister of Correa from the Argentine Embassy

the block of PRO in the National Chamber of Deputies presented a draft resolution asking the arrest parliamentarian of cafe santiagoMinister of Foreign Affairs, in order to request information and explanations on flee from the Argentine Embassy in Ecuador to Venezuela of Maria de los Angeles Duartethe former minister of the former Ecuadorian president Raphael Correaand sentenced for Corruption.

The resolution was promoted by MP Christian Ritondo, president of the yellow bench in the Lower House, and subscribed by 17 deputies from the bloc. “On March 13, 2023, it was learned that the former official and fugitive from justice had managed to escape the security operation which monitored her stay at the diplomatic headquarters”, details the PRO initiative and questions “a gross negligence or even the complicity Argentine authorities with the fact, triggering a serious diplomatic conflict between the two countries”.

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In addition, the statement requests “urgent explanations from officials of the Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs” and states: “They must give an account before Congress for this diplomatic scandal with Ecuador which reveals the fractures in our country’s international relations with the international community.”

Recall that Duarte was a civil servant of former President Correa between 2007 and 2017. She held the positions of Minister of Economic and Social Inclusion, then of Transport and finally of Urban Development. The former civil servant was investigated and sentenced to eight years for corruption in the Bribery case, where she was also sentenced former Ecuadorian president. The case proved the illegal financing millionaire contributions from private companies to Correa’s party.

Since August 2020, Duarte has been in the Argentine embassy in Quito, as a refugee for “humanitarian reasons”. The President of the Nation, Alberto Fernandez, had the political will to grant the former official political asylum. However, Guillermo LassoPresident of Ecuador, had refused to grant a safe conduct to the former minister of Correa.

On March 13, the flee from Duarte from the Argentine Embassy in Quito to Caracas. The escape triggered a diplomatic tension between Casa Rosada and Lasso, which jeopardized bilateral relations between the two countries.

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Duarte escaped security forces guarding his stay at the Argentine legation in Ecuador with his 11-year-old son. Later, a clandestine plane was waiting for him to go to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. landed on Caracaswhere the government authorities of Nicola Maduro.

For the PRO deputies, the fact implies a “complicity of the Argentine authorities with the fact”. After the international scandal, the Ecuadorian government decided to declare the Argentinian ambassador in this country “persona non grata”, Gabriel Fuchs, and expelled him from Ecuador. Immediately, from Casa Rosada, they reacted with the same response: they expelled Xavier Monge-Yoder, Ecuadorian diplomatic representative in Buenos Aires.

After the scandal escalated, the Argentine government, through the Palace of San Martín, was instructed to deny Casa Rosada’s alleged “complicity” or consent in Durante’s escape from Argentine diplomatic headquarters in Quito. The conflict persists and the political bond of the two nations has been hurt.

Opposition bench lawmakers will seek to articulate a consensus to bring Cafiero before the lower house. Let us recall that the parliamentary interpellation of the ministers of the government is an attribution that the National Constitution establishes in the prerogatives of the Legislative Power.

The PRO initiative was signed by MPs Ritondo, Mercedes Joury, Maria Lujan Rey, Gabriel Chumpitaz, Graciela Ocana, Alejandro Finocchiaro, Jose Nunez, Gabriela Besana, Dina Rezinovsky, Ingrid Jetter, Karina Bachey, Pablo Torello, Fernando Iglesias and Sabrina Ajmechet, Mary Sotolano, Soher Le Sucre, and Florence Klipauka.

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