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Espin on the verge of dismissal
Posted On 05 Oct 2018
Ecuadornews:
Sofia Espin no longer smiles. Now she screams, gets indignant, throws accusations with a fan and hides her hand. Forty-eight hours after she got her way thanks to the decided support of a handful of pro-government officers led by Viviana Bonilla (who pretends to be independent and acts, in practice, as a correísta of the most conspicuous), luck she turned her back on her: 73 of 114 assembly members present at the plenary session yesterday decided to support a resolution that observes as “questionable” his conduct in the Social Rehabilitation Center of Chillogallo, where he visited Diana Falcón, protected witness of the Balda case, go through who was not.
The report of the director of the detention center is, as the same Espin admitted by Twitter, “determinant”. She and Yadira Cadena, a member of Rafael Correa’s legal team, lied to be admitted to the jail and visit Falcón: they said they were its defenders. The resolution approved yesterday in the Assembly, proposed by Esteban Bernal (CREO), also provides that the Minister of Justice in charge, Paúl Granda, appear at the plenary to explain what happened.
On Tuesday, a first attempt to approve the resolution failed due to lack of votes. What happened since then? A chain of events. One: Bernal filed a sworn complaint against Espín before the Legislative Administration Council (CAL). Two: the CAL, with the vote in favor of Viviana Bonilla herself, who did not fit another, admitted the complaint in record time. Three: Minister Granda made public the videos of the surveillance cameras of the detention center, where Espin is observed hiding his identity between glasses and hair. Four: the president Elizabeth Cabezas put an explosive tweet in which she affirms that the conduct of Espín “is at odds with ethical and moral principles”. Did you exert your pressure more directly on your block? Did the Executive participate in this endeavor?
The fact is that yesterday, when the plenary session was installed (after 09:30), the fate was cast. The correísta Cristóbal Lloret repeated the argument (coined the day before by Viviana Bonilla) that there are more important things to deal with (without a doubt: global warming, hunger in the world …). However, he admitted having devoted two whole days to reflect on the matter. He said there are no grounds to punish Espín. He returned to the argument of the “humanitarian visit” and put so much color that, in the press cubicle, the journalists could not help but laugh. Almost canonized his partner bench, invoked her status as a mother, wife, daughter, and concluded with an unforgivable grammatical clumsiness: “you cannot act as you are acting.”
Nothing to do. Except for the ruling party that was convinced by Viviana Bonilla (Karla Cadena, Kharla Chavez …) and others who did not need anybody to convince them (José Serrano, Silvia Salgado, Esteban Albornoz, Carlos Bergman …), the government block supported the proposal of Esteban Bernal, for the president’s tranquility. Result: 73 votes in favor, 28 correists against, 13 abstentions.
Like a branch of the sea, Espín went out into the lobby to give his statements. That all the assembly members who visit the Prosecutor’s Office have to be tried, said who knows why. That you have to investigate those who have relatives who work in the government (he did not mean names). That she feels victimized by a political persecution orchestrated by President Elizabeth Cabezas … She did not answer questions, she did not listen to reasons. He just came out, threw up his frustration and went back inside.
Now all that remains is for the Plenary to appoint a commission of three members from different blocs to investigate it. The correístas, who are not a block registered as such in the Assembly, should not, in principle, be part of that commission. With 73 votes against him, the ghost of destitution looms over the once smiling assembly member.
Uncomfortable topic
Elizabeth Cabezas went from the second to the fourth point of the agenda without explanations and the third was buried: “draft resolution presented by Assemblywoman Paola Vintimilla (PSC) on the process of naturalization of Julian Assange.” It is known that the government intends to lay waste on the subject. With the help of Cabezas it seems that she will achieve it. (I)
