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Argentina’s intervention in hosting the condemned Ecuadorian ex-minister María de los Ángeles Duarte in its embassy and the mysterious appearance of the person implicated in the delegation in Caracas caused sudden tension in diplomatic ties between Buenos Aires and Quito. The latter declared Gabriel Fuks, the Argentine diplomat on Ecuadorian soil, persona non grata and ordered his departure; in reaction, the southern country did the same and requested the retirement of Xavier Monge Yoder.
The differences between Ecuador and Argentina quickly detonated this Tuesday, March 14, after both governments ordered the expulsion of their ambassadors. This happens after Buenos Aires welcomed the condemned ex-minister of Rafael Correa, Maria de los Angeles Duarteat her diplomatic headquarters in Quito two and a half years ago and asked for a safe-conduct to get her out of the country.
However, the controversy erupted after Duarte appeared on Tuesday at the Argentine institution located in Caracas, without authorization to leave Ecuadorian soil. Duarte herself communicated it through Twitter, where she considered herself a “political hostage” of the Guillermo Lasso Administration.
“I decided to leave the embassy because by denying me the safe conduct that corresponded to me as a political refugee, in accordance with the Caracas convention of 1954 and preventing my safe exit, the Ecuadorian government made me its political hostage,” he said.
However, as a consequence, diplomatic relations between both nations in the region deteriorated deeply.
During the evening of this March 14, The Foreign Ministry of Ecuador declared the Argentine ambassador Gabriel Fuks persona non gratawhom he accused of not being suitable for that position, and ordered his expulsion from the territory “within a prudent term”.
The Minister of Foreign Relations, Juan Carlos Holguín, justified in a press conference that the Government lost confidence in Fuks and that he violated “the good faith and mutual trust that is sought in the relationship between States.”
“In our idea it is not breaking relations with Argentina, but this measure was necessary so that we can recover trust. We consider that it is the best for Ecuador for its dignity and absolute respect for Justice,” he added.
According to Holguín, on Tuesday Fuks gave different and presumably contradictory information to that provided on Monday by Santiago Cafiero, Argentine Foreign Minister, who reported Duarte’s escape from the residence without prior notice.
In addition, the Argentine diplomatic mission did not deliver documents and material requested by Ecuador, such as the security camera recordings, which may clarify the conditions of Duarte’s departure.
Minutes later, from Buenos Aires they reacted by taking a similar position. The National Foreign Ministry issued a statement in which it requested the withdrawal of Ambassador Xavier Monge Yoder, due to the “incomprehensible decision of the Ecuadorian Government.”
The letter from Argentina stated that they took the Quito resolution with “sadness.”
“Beyond the differences revealed after the Argentine request for diplomatic asylum, the rejection of the granting of said status and the consequent safe-conduct by the Ecuadorian authorities, it was public knowledge that Duarte continued to be housed in the Argentine legation.” they asserted.
Buenos Aires remarked that there was no obligation to guard Duarte and rejected the intention of “attributing to an express action of the Argentine Government” the circulation and subsequent departure from Ecuador.
Why did Duarte provoke the serious disagreements between Argentina and Ecuador?
María de los Ángeles Duarte, an official in various portfolios during Rafael Correa’s term, but convicted of corruption for acts during her tenure as Minister of Public Workswas sheltered by the Argentine embassy for two and a half years.
Duarte’s ties to the South American country are familiar: she is married to a man of Argentine nationality with whom she has a son. Through that link and under the label ‘guest’, she was at the Argentine embassy in Quito for two and a half years, until she disappeared between last Friday and Saturday.
In December 2022, the Government of Alberto Fernández granted him political asylum and processed the corresponding permits for his transfer, an action that was blocked by the Administration of Guillermo Lasso.
Ecuador pointed out that some of the arguments in the request that Argentina submitted to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights were not true.
For Holguín, the departure of Duarte to Venezuela is “bad news for the fight against corruption and impunity” and stressed that there is no persecution against her because the sentence dates from 2020, before the assumption of the current Government.
The former minister received eight years in prison for bribery in the ‘Bribes 2012-2016’ case, which argues that there was improper financing of undeclared companies in favor of the then-government Alianza País party.
With EFE and local media
