Former Ecuadorian Minister María de los Ángeles Duarte (left), next to former President Rafael Correa (right) during an United Nations event. Photo: Juan Cevallos/AFP/File photo.
Caracas, March 15, 2023 (OrinocoTribune.com)—Former Ecuadorian minister María de los Ángeles Duarte fled Argentina’s embassy in Quito, where she had been staying since August 2020 under conditions of political asylum for humanitarian reasons, and traveled to Venezuela, according to multiple sources.
The incident came to light on Monday night through a statement issued by the Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry noting that Argentina’s Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero informed his Ecuadorian counterpart that day of Duarte’s escape “without the knowledge of the personnel of the Embassy.”
Duarte, minister for transportation, public works, and housing during the government of Rafael Correa, between 2010 and 2014, had taken refuge in Argentina’s embassy in August 2020 to avoid an eight-year prison sentence in a case known as Sobornos 2012-2016 (or “bribery 2012-2016”), part of the political judicial persecution (lawfare) initiated by then president Lenín Moreno against former President Rafael Correa and his closest political allies.
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Foreign Minister Cafiero indicated that Duarte appeared on Tuesday at the headquarters of Argentina’s embassy in Caracas and was received by Ambassador Oscar Laborde and two officials from the diplomatic headquarters. Laborde explained in an interview for Union Radio that he was not aware of how the Ecuadorian politician was able to escape Argentina’s embassy in Quito and cross the border without being held by local authorities.
Ecuador’s authorities claim that they have no record in migration of Duarte’s departure from the country and said that they requested access, on behalf of Argentina, to the footage from the security cameras of the diplomatic headquarters, but that the request was denied.
Al país, a mi familia y a mis amigos: pic.twitter.com/ck4pMntAv5
— María Duarte P. (@MariaDuartePesa) March 14, 2023
On Tuesday morning, Duarte posted a statement on her social media accounts: “To my country, to my family and friends: I am thankful to the Argentinian government for sheltering me from the persecution by Lenín Moreno and Guillermo Lasso’s governments. I decided to flee the (Argentinian) embassy because after the denial of the laissez-passer that I was entitled to as a political refugee, according to the 1954 Caracas Convention, thus preventing my safe exit, the Ecuadorian government make me a political hostage. I had to exit under risk conditions, but I exercised the right that I had.”
She later retweeted a video with an Ecuadorian journalist explaining how the Lasso government was using the laissez-passer for Duarte and other Correista politicians as a bargaining chip in parliamentary discussions in the country.
¡Ridículos!
María Duarte, mujer patriota y honrada, involucrada en la cantinflada del #CasoBochornos , tenia asilo político de Argentina, pero el miserable Gobierno de Lasso jamás le dio el salvoconducto que le correspondía de acuerdo con el Derecho Interamericano.
Ya falta poco pic.twitter.com/2xopz8I3pU— Rafael Correa (@MashiRafael) March 14, 2023
A few minutes earlier, former president Correa posted a message on his social media accounts: “Laughable! María Duarte, a patriotic and honest woman, involved in the circus #CasoBochornos, had political asylum from Argentina, but the miserable government of Lasso never gave her the safe-conduct (laissez-passer) to which she was entitled in accordance with Inter-American Law…”
Diplomatic impasse
Lasso’s government declared Argentina’s ambassador in Quito, Gabriel Fuks, persona non grata, and asked him to withdraw from the country. Ecuador also called its ambassador in Buenos Aires, Xavier Monge, for consultations. “A prudent time has been given (to Ambassador Fuks) to leave the country,” Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Juan Carlos Holguín told the press.
“We are very sorry to reach this point, but the inconsistencies in some of the information related to the situation of María de los Ángeles Duarte have made us come to this decision,” he added.
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Argentina’s government, meanwhile, said that its foreign minister, Santiago Cafiero, informed the Ecuadorian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday that Duarte had not been at its diplomatic headquarters in Quito since the weekend and that she left “by her own decision” and without “prior notice” to the officials present.
Cafiero added that Duarte lived in a building far from the ambassador’s official residence with her son, an Argentinian national, and that he was “surprised and deeply saddened” by the Lasso government’s decision to “escalate” the conflict between the two countries, due to the situation of the former minister Duarte.
“Therefore, regretting the incomprehensible decision of the Ecuadorian government to request the withdrawal of Ambassador Gabriel Fuks from Ecuador, we have decided to adopt the same reciprocal measure with respect to the Ecuadorian ambassador in Argentina,” he added in a statement, meaning that the Argentinian government was forced to expel the Ecuadorian ambassador in Buenos Aires, Xavier Monge Yoder.
On this issue, the Argentinian ambassador in Caracas, during a radio interview, also expressed his surprise by the decision taken by the Ecuadorian government, and called for moderation to resolve the diplomatic tension that might have been lessened through the application of less aggressive diplomatic measures.
Orinoco Tribune special by staff
OT/JRE/SL
