Keto.- Ecuador will refuse to grant safe passage to the former vice president George GlassWho has taken refuge in the Mexican embassy in Quito and faces a preventive detention order, Foreign Minister Gabriela Sommerfeld warned on Friday.
The refusal to provide safe passage prevents Ghala from leaving the country, while he faces investigation on charges of diverting funds allocated for the reconstruction of areas affected by the 2016 earthquake.
The Public Prosecutor's Office alleges “misuse of state funds” in the case, noting that so far there is no evidence of businesses rebuilding after the earthquake. In addition to Glass, two other former officials in Rafael Correa's government are implicated and are on trial for alleged embezzlement.
Glass, who led the reconstruction committee, was sentenced in 2017 to six years in prison for corruption in the Odebrecht case, and was granted parole in 2022. The Ecuadorian chancellor said asylum was not appropriate in this case, because this is a criminal investigation. Glass's defense seeks to protect his physical integrity by alleging a lack of security in prisons.
It should be noted that last March, another former minister in the Correa government, Maria de los Angeles Duarte, fled from the Argentine embassy after more than two years of asylum, when Ecuador refused to grant her safe passage. This incident caused a diplomatic crisis between Quito and Buenos Aires.
In recent years, Mexico has granted asylum or refuge to former Correa government officials, including former Foreign Minister Ricardo Patiño and his representatives Soledad Buendia, Carlos Vitere, and Gabriela Rivadeneira.
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fountain: With information from Agence France-Presse
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