The presidents of Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso, and of Argentina, Alberto Fernández, are entangled in a crossroads of criticism on social networks, around the escape of former minister María de los Ángeles from the Embassy in Quito.
In the middle of the diplomatic crisis. Former President Rafael Correa visits Argentina. Quito, March 21, 2023.
President Guillermo Lasso responded to his Argentine counterpart, Alberto Fernández, with a letter published on social networks and accused him of having kept information about the escape of María de Los Ángeles Duarte.
According to Lasso, on Tuesday, March 14, after the escape, Fernández told him by phone that he learned of his absence at the Argentine Embassy in Quito on Saturday, March 11. “You will know the reasons”, for not having notified it in a timely manner, the Ecuadorian president reproaches him.
And Lasso replies that his decision to expel the Argentine ambassador, Gabriel Fuks, is not a mistake, but was the response to the “inconsistencies, falsehoods and doubts” of his versions.
Just as he does not accept the “condescension” of Fernández’s letter and claims him for putting “ideology” ahead and not the bilateral relationship with Ecuador. “That’s the real mistake ,” Lasso blurts out.
The Argentine letter
On the morning of this March 21, President Fernández responded to President Lasso’s initial comment with a letter about it and said that the impasse is “easy to remedy.”
In the letter, Fernández maintains that, to overcome the diplomatic problem, it is enough for Lasso to correct his mistake and look for those responsible in his own administration.
According to the Argentine President, the blame falls on those who ” did not exercise due diligence to prevent the free circulation of a person whose capture they claimed.” That is, he accused the National Police of allowing Duarte to escape.
For Fernández, it is an “incident resulting from the lack of skill of Ecuadorian State officials “:
President Fernández reiterated the position of Gabriel Fuks, ambassador who was expelled from Ecuador, who said that he was not anyone’s jailer. Argentina had “neither the duty of custody over her nor any ability to limit her movements,” warned the Argentine President.
And he accused Lasso of having an “overreaction” by declaring Fuks persona non grata. For Fernández, the measure was serious, unfair and excessive and “hurts the relationship of our peoples.”
The first message
On the night of March 20, through his Twitter account, President Lasso regretted the position of his Argentine counterpart after the escape from the Embassy in Quito of the former Minister of Transportation.
Lasso criticized Fernández for having put his “friendship” with former President Rafael Correa, ahead of the relationship between the two countries.
Although the Ecuadorian President did not directly mention Duarte, the flight of the former correista official has generated a schism in the bilateral relationship.
Duarte, who had been a refugee at the Argentine Embassy in Quito for more than two and a half years, escaped from the diplomatic headquarters in a confusing incident.
After what happened, Ecuador expelled the Argentine ambassador in Quito, Gabriel Fuks, on suspicion that he was an accomplice in the flight.
The Links of the Progressive Left
Lasso’s statement comes at a time when Correa participated in Buenos Aires as a guest at a Human Rights forum.
At the opening of this conference, Fernández assured that “neoliberalism is right now attacking the pillars of life.”
“We saw it in Bolivia with Evo Morales, in Brazil with Lula, in Ecuador with the beloved former president Correa and in Argentina we see it with Cristina Fernández de Kirchner,” said the Argentine president.
And Correa, could not avoid intervening. “Lasso: President Fernández’s thing is called INTEGRITY. The only one who put his scoundrel, corruption and bad faith ahead is you, and thus you destroyed the relationship with a brother country. NOBODY believes you, and you are increasingly alone at a national and international level #ParaTontoNoSeEstudia”, Correa wrote on Twitter.
Note updated at 16:49 with the letter from President Guillermo Lasso.
