Ecuador has warned that relations with Argentina could ‘weaken’ due to the escape of the former minister convicted of corruption

An Ecuadorian government source said GlobeLiveMedia that the relationship between Ecuador there Argentina could “weakendue to the latest events related to the former minister Maria de los Angeles Duartefound guilty of corruption and who escaped Argentinian Embassy in Quitowhere he had resided since April 2020.

Duarte left the Argentine diplomatic headquarters last weekend, as confirmed by a statement from the Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs: “Over the past weekend of Saturday March 11 and Sunday March 12, 2023, Ambassador (Gabriel) Fuks carried out various tasks inherent in their diplomatic work, no presence was recorded in the wing of the building where Duarte Pesantes liveddistant from the official residence of the Argentine representative, which is why the corresponding visits to the various dependencies were carried out, without locating its location.

Despite this, according to official Ecuadorian information, on Monday afternoon the Argentine Minister of Foreign Affairs cafe santiago officially informed of Duarte’s escape. The news spread on the night of March 13. Through a press release, Ecuador indicated this Tuesday morning that the Argentine ambassador Gabriel Fuchs He was summoned a second time to give details of how the former minister convicted of corruption left the embassy.

The Ecuadorian Interior Ministry has confirmed that María de los Ángeles Duarte was not taken into custody as she was staying inside the Argentine diplomatic headquarters. In a local radio interview, Duarte’s defense attorney, Diego Correa, assured that the times he entered the Argentine embassy there was always a control, a patrol car at the door. You had to register to enter.

Last November, the Ecuadorian government insisted on reminding Argentina that, according to the United Nations and Inter-American conventions against corruption, asylum could not be granted to the former minister because she had been found guilty of corruption. However, the government of Alberto Fernández granted diplomatic asylum to Duarte in December 2022.

For its part, the Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs, assured in its last statement that Duarte was absent from the embassy by his own decision “and without any indication to the authorities of the embassy in the Republic of Ecuador”. In addition, the official bulletin mentions the request for safe conduct that he sent to Ecuador and which was rejected by the government of this country: “always with the aim of strengthening good relations with the Republic of Ecuador, efforts have been made to seek a common understanding which has so far proved unsuccessful.

Maria de los Angeles Duarte was sentenced in 2020 to eight years in prison for corruptiona crime of corruption against the public administration which was tried in connection with the case Bribes 2012-2016. This forensic investigation revealed an irregular financing plot of the Alianza País movementthe political coalition led by former President Rafael Correa, also condemned, and which had as one of its main protagonists the then Minister of Transport and Public Works.

Duarte was investigated, tried and convicted by the highest courts in the country before Guillermo Lasso assumed the presidency, in May 2021. As officially reported on this case, the resolution court “had all the procedural guarantees”.

The former Ecuadorian minister is married to an Argentinian citizen and She was staying at the Argentine embassy in Quito with one of her children, a minor and an Argentine national.

According to information from GlobeLiveMedia, Duarte traveled to Caracas, Venezuela, where he hopes to receive the Argentine passport. Duarte continues with the status of a diplomatic refugee from Argentina, although in Ecuador she is considered a fugitive from justice.

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