Government says that request for leave without pay of Vice President Vicuña should be sent to the Assembly

Ecuadornews:

The National Secretariat of Communication assures that the request for leave without remuneration made by the Vice President of the Republic, María Alejandra Vicuña, should have been addressed to the National Assembly and not to the Executive Function

Through a bulletin released on the afternoon of this Monday, December 3, 2018, the Ministry of Communication assured that this request should not have been sent to President Lenin Moreno.

COMUNICADO OFICIAL | Sobre la delegación de las funciones de la Vicepresidencia de la República a @JoseAgustoB, secretario General de la Presidencia. pic.twitter.com/Tb4mi2AXxR

— Comunicación Ecuador (@ComunicacionEc) 3 de diciembre de 2018

After the Executive announced that he “freed” Vicuña from her duties, the official issued a letter requesting leave without pay until December 31 of this year. She argued that she was doing it to plan her legitimate defense in the face of allegations of alleged irregular charges to his former collaborators.

“With the purpose of not distracting the fulfillment of the multiple functions that you have entrusted to me, it is my responsibility and duty to the country, to ask you to grant me a license without remuneration until December 31 of this year, so that this The process does not affect the government’s management,”Vicuña wrote, and among its functions, Vicuña presided over the Reconstruction Committee of Manabí and Esmeraldas (for the 2016 earthquake),also headed the Popular and Solidarity Economy Committee, and was the owner of the Coordination with the Ecuadorian Institute of Social Security (IESS), which was also responsible for the articulation of the citizen mandate expressed in the referendum and popular consultation, on February 4, 2018.

Esta mañana he solicitado Licencia al Presidente @Lenin para ejercer mi legítimo derecho a la defensa y no afectar la gestión de gobierno, especialmente las funciones a mí encomendadas. pic.twitter.com/PnzFyJBP71

— Ma. Alejandra Vicuña (@marialevicuna) 3 de diciembre de 2018

The Minister of the Interior and Secretary of Policy in charge, María Paula Romo ,confirmed that Vicuña remains in the position of vice president. “She continues to be vice president, and the president has entrusted Secretary General of the Presidency (José Agusto Briones) so that he can devote all his time and effort to her defense “.

Through Executive Decree 333, of March 6, 2018, President Lenin Moreno established the functions that María Alejandra Vicuña had to fulfill. The official was elected on January 6, 2018 in the National Assembly, with 70 votes in favor of 106legislators present.

Vicuña headed the list of candidates that President Lenin Moreno referred to the Legislature, to appoint the vice president, in the definitive absence of Jorge Glas. The other two candidates nominated by the Executive were Rosana Alvarado and María Fernanda Espinosa.

Lenín Moreno freed vice president María Alejandra Vicuña from office

The objective is that she can defend herself freely from the allegations about alleged undue payments to her ex-collaborators when she was a legislator. The Second President requested a license until December 31st.

Three days after serving 11 months in office, the Vice President of the Republic,María Alejandra Vicuña, temporarily leaves her functions. On Monday, December3, President Lenin Moreno “freed Vicuña of her functions”, so that she can exercise without any interference her right to self-defense, in the face of allegations of alleged undue charges to her former collaborators when she was a legislator of the province of Guayas for the PAIS Alliance movement.

The Head of State indicated that due to the delicacy of the functions, the General Secretary of the Presidency, José Agusto Briones, will be in charge of the Vice Presidency. Vicuña was in charge of the chairmanship of the Reconstruction Committee of Manabí and Esmeraldas, for the 2016 earthquake, directed the Committee of Popular and Solidarity Economy, was head of the Coordination with the Ecuadorian Institute of Social Security (IESS) and in charge of the articulation of the citizen mandate expressed in the popular consultation.

According to article 149 of the Constitution, “… The Vice President or Vice President of the Republic, when she does not replace the President or President of the Republic, will exercise the functions that this or this one assigns”.

Vicuña asks for leave without salary

A few minutes after the announcement of Lenin Moreno made past noon, at the Government Palace, Vice President Maria Alejandra Vicuña, through social networks, issued a letter that she would have sent to the head of state during the hours of the morning.

In a message on her Twitter account she states that she has applied for a license without remuneration, “to exercise my legitimate right to defense and not to affect the management of the Government, especially the functions entrusted to me,” and encloses the letter.

In the precise writing. “Dear Mr. President. The process of self-defense that I must sustain in the Attorney General’s Office, for investigations motivated by complaints that were disseminated without any contrast in a media, and with obvious malice last week, forces me to plan my self-defense with my team legal.And with the purpose of not distracting the fulfillment of the multiple functions that you have entrusted to me; I consider Mr. President that in this first stage, it is my responsibility and duty with the country, to ask him to grant me a license without remuneration until December 31 of this year, so that this process does not affect the government’s management “.

After11 years of political activism and her 40 years of age, Vicuña became the new vice president of Ecuador in January of this year, replacing Jorge Glas,sentenced to six years in prison for conspiracy to commit a crime in the framework of the Corruption network of the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht in Ecuador.

At the legislative level, Fabricio Villamar, Assemblyman of the CREO movement,said that he hopes to gather until tomorrow the signatures necessary to formalize the request for impeachment against the Vice President, before the Legislative Administration Commission (CAL) ).

The parliamentarian assured that it already has 58 headings and aspires to have the backing of the legislative bloc of PAIS and the so-called correístas. The Deputy Minister of Interior and Politics, María Paula Romo, continues to beVice-President, emphasizing that the President’s announcement refers specifically to the fact that María Alejandra Vicuña’s functions were suspended until she resolved the problem of the prosecution that the Prosecutor’s Office is handling.

The official indicated that for these reasons she entrusted the tasks of Vicuña tothe Secretary of the Presidency, José Agusto Briones. Although she avoided answering whether the President’s action was due to the withdrawal of confidence in the Second President, Minister Romo stressed that, as the Head of State said, it was done so that “she dedicates all her effort to her legitimate defense.” The interior official clarified that Vicuña will retain her appointment as vice president. (I)

Source: https://www.elcomercio.com/actualidad/vicepresidenta-licencia-asamblea-gobierno-justicia.html