The Government of Ecuador denounced “a dirty political pact” in the National Assembly (Parliament), which this Friday voted against lifting the immunity of Vice President Verónica Abad so that she may be investigated by the Prosecutor’s Office for alleged concussion, within a case of corruption in which his son, Sebastián Barreiro, is also prosecuted.
Verónica Abad, vice president of Ecuador.
“No official is above the law and Justice must determine if the vice president committed an irregularity and it is related to the case that her son is accused of,” said the Ministry of Government in an official statement where it rejected the decision of the Legislature. .
This after learning of the decision of Parliament that, with the vote of the opposition majority, denied this Friday to authorize the criminal proceedings against Abad, linked by the Prosecutor’s Office in a corruption case that she considers as an act of political pressure against her for part of the president Daniel Noboa.
For the Noboa Government, the Legislature’s decision is evidence of a “dirty political pact” between the parliamentary opposition groups, in which, according to what it said, “impunity and personal and party interests have prevailed over dignity and justice.
Parliament, “as in any moderately stable democracy” should give way to the accusation against Abad and should only let “the organs of the judicial function do their work,” argued the Ministry of Government.
“The complaints, the accusations, the evidence, the files did not matter,” added the source after insisting that everything acted by Parliament is due to an alleged pact between the opposition groups.
The Government has identified in this pact opposition groups of various tendencies such as the conservative Social Christian Party (PSC), the progressive Citizen Revolution, whose leader is former president Rafael Correa (2007-2017), and Construye, an independent formation.
For the Executive, these groups added up to 75 affirmative votes (out of a total of 137 seats) with which the plenary session of the National Assembly saved Vice President Abad from the criminal process initiated by the State Attorney General’s Office.
The Ministry of Government accused the parliamentary opposition of stopping laws, trying to “limit the power of the president in his power as co-legislator” and, “without any reason” trying to “implement political trials (of censorship) against several members of President Noboa’s cabinet.” ».
Despite this, the Noboa Government said it was clear about its objectives, with “transparency as its main flag”, which is why it insisted that Justice must determine if Abad committed any illegal act.
The legislative majority, for its part, regretted that it was not possible to learn about the files reserved by the justice system that allegedly link Abad to the case of “offer to carry out influence peddling in the Vice Presidency.”
This case against Abad and his son arose after the complaint of a fired official from the Vice Presidency who pointed out Barreiro as the person who allegedly asked him to keep a part of his salary in exchange for influencing his hiring.
Abad’s involvement by the Prosecutor’s Office occurred last Monday, in a statement where he indicated that there are indications of his participation in the hiring of the complainant.
Abad has become one of the most critical voices of the Noboa Government, which she has even accused of alleged harassment to force her to resign and thus prevent her from having to temporarily assume the Presidency when he seeks re-election in the 2025 elections.
Noboa could run in those elections to try to be re-elected, but he would need to ask permission to be absent from office during the electoral campaign period, a period in which he would have to entrust the Presidency to Abad, as indicated in the country’s Constitution.
The distance between the two began during the electoral campaign and was evident upon assuming their respective positions, when one of Noboa’s first decisions was to send Abad as ambassador to Israel.
According to several political analysts, the degree of distancing has reached such an extreme that the president would apparently try not to entrust the first magistracy of the State to his vice president. EFE
