U.S. Senators sent a letter with critics to Correa

Democratic leaders and Senate Republicans sent a letter yesterday with claims to the Ecuadorian president, Rafael Correa, including the “criminalization” of opposition voices.

Specifically, they criticized the decision to “prevent” the help of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) for Ecuador, the sentences of Assamblyman Clever Jiménez, journalist Fernando Villavicencio, and Carlos Figueroa, accused of defaming the government, and attacks of the president against the new Mayor of Quito, the opponent Mauricio Rodas, who is linked to a plan to boycott the government according to Correa.

The document is signed by lawmakers from both parties, including the Committee Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Senate, Robert Menendez, Marco Rubio, Richard Durbin, Timothy Kaine, Patrick Leahy, John Cornyn, James Inhofe and Mark Kirk.

They also urged President Correa, to “strengthen” democracy in that country and repair the bilateral relationship between both countries.