FILE – Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso speaks during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, January 18, 2023. Lasso will undergo surgery after a fall that fractured his left fibula, according to a statement from the press secretariat of the presidency on February 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)

QUITO (AP) – The plenary session of the Ecuadorian National Assembly decided on Saturday by a majority of votes to support a report by a legislative commission that recommends the impeachment and removal of President Guillermo Lasso, accused of alleged crimes against security. state, among others.

The resolution was adopted with the vote of 104 legislators in favor of the lawsuit, 18 against and three abstentions, out of 125 present, out of a total of 137 members of the assembly that make up this body.

This decision does not involve an immediate trial against Lasso, but the trial continues to a new body, the Legislative Board, where if approved, it must be referred to the Constitutional Court, which will ultimately decide whether it fulfills the formal conditions for prosecuting Lasso. 67-year-old sovereign.

Last week, a mostly opposition legislative commission presented a report on an alleged case of corruption and alleged links of those close to power with criminal groups and recommended that President Lasso be subjected to a political trial of censorship and impeachment, in addition to omission in crimes against public administration.

For almost three weeks, this commission analyzed information on an alleged corruption case called “El Gran Padrino” which began as a police investigation into drug traffickers and led to possible links between Danilo Carrera, the handsome -brother of the president, and former civil servant Hernán Luque with these groups. .

If the request of the legislators is accepted in all instances, it must return to the Legislative Body, in two or three weeks, to formally open the trial, which could take a month. For recall, at least 92 lawmakers must vote in favor out of a total of 137.

Government Minister Henry Cucalón had said the report’s content lacked foundation because, as he asserts, “there is not a single piece of evidence that is not half-baked conjecture”. He also pointed out that the legislative opposition is playing Russian roulette to see if a cause works against the president.

The case was made public on the digital portal La Posta, which revealed a police investigation between June 2022 and January 2023, when it was archived on the recommendation of the court and the prosecution for lack of evidence.

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