Ecuador’s Minister of Agriculture, Bernardo Manzano, resigned on Tuesday after reports surfaced in the country’s media questioning the manner in which he obtained the post in May 2022.
Specifically, the departure of the third Minister of Agriculture of the Government of President Guillermo Lasso follows information published by the newspaper La Posta, based on a Police report, detailing that Manzano was appointed as Minister due to the management of a person external to the administration.
«In the last hours a digital portal has stated that my arrival to his government is due to a management of a person external to the administration», announced the now former minister in a statement disseminated in social networks.
«Despite the falsity of these claims (…) I consider it prudent to step aside and prevent this unfortunate coincidence from being used to damage the Government and cast doubts on the integrity of its management,» he added.
Manzano had entered the State portfolio after handing over his resume to Rubén Cherres, a friend of Danilo Carrera, who is also a brother-in-law of the President of Ecuador, as reported by La Posta in its investigation.
The minister’s resignation comes at a time when Lasso’s relative is being investigated for his involvement in an alleged corruption scheme in the country’s public companies.
The alleged corruption scheme points to a structure created by Danilo Carrera through which he allegedly received bribes from suppliers of the Corporación Eléctrica del Ecuador (Celec) and Nacional de Electricidad (CNEL).
The investigation, in turn, concludes that the President’s Government would have links with the Albanian mafia, through Rubén Cherres, who would be Danilo Carrera’s main operator, as reported by Telesur.
