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Retired Navy officers write to Rafael Correa
Posted On 04 Oct 2016
The Association of Retired Navy Officers made public yesterday an exhortation addressed to President Rafael Correa, which asks him to “stop offending” the armed forces and its people, and shows their support to Lieutenant Commander Edwin Ortega, who received a sentence of ten days of arrest for being accused of offending the president.
In the disclosed open letter, the retired military officers question what they consider ‘arrogance’ and ‘pride’ of the head of state and the willingness to sanction Captain Ortega, and also criticized the high command of the Navy for “succumbing” to political power and punish the officer.
The association insists, citing the Rules of Military Discipline and the Act of the Armed Forces Staff, that President Correa ‘is not part’ of the Armed Forces and therefore these legal bodies should not have been applied. “… As it has been done it is illegal and abusive. It is worth to remind him that these two legal instruments were modified to the current text, during his term, by two ministerial agreements signed by the then Minister (Javier) Ponce,” the letter states.
And they clarify “finally and definitively” the concept of a commander in chief: “this is someone who leads an army, a squadron, a fleet, a detachment … this is the person who exercises this command … Whoever leads a military force to conquer a strategic objective is a commander in chief.”
Source: http://www.eluniverso.
