The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ecuador has summoned this Tuesday the Argentine ambassador in Quito, Gabriel Fucks, seeking explanations about an alleged «ultimatum» from Buenos Aires for the asylum in Argentine territory of María de los Ángeles Duarte, minister of several portfolios during the Presidency of Rafael Correa (2007-2017).
«Ecuador rejects any attempt to set deadlines or conditions to an issue that requires a meticulous legal analysis,» the Ecuadorian diplomatic portfolio has remarked in a statement echoed by the newspaper ‘El Comercio’.
According to Argentine publications in recent days, Fucks would have requested a meeting of technical and legal experts together with officials from both countries to expedite the safe-conduct for the former minister and thus be able to travel to Argentina.
The Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry has stated that the Executive is analyzing from the first moment the document sent by the representative of the Argentinean diplomacy, Santiago Cafiero, in which he confirmed that Buenos Aires had granted asylum to Duarte.
The authorities of Ecuador, for their part, have recalled that the former ‘correista’ minister is «convicted for acts of corruption», sentenced for bribery in the case ‘Bribes 2012-2016’. Quito will take this fact into account when making a decision, always within the framework of international law, the conventions applicable to the matter and Ecuadorian legislation.
