Argentina defended this Wednesday its action in the “Duarte case” disturbed in international law, which, as its foreign minister was annoyed, santiago cafiero“offers resolution mechanisms for these controversies”.
In a thread on his Twitter account, the Argentine Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Worship recorded that “Argentina’s deep appreciation for the people of Ecuador does not change with this conjunctural disagreement”, since both are “united brother nations by the history and for a common future.
Maria de los Angeles Duarte Minister of Public Works between February 19, 2015 and January 6, 2017, with the Government of Rafael Correa (2007-2017), was convicted of corruption in 2020.
Duarte calls himself “political persecution”
Nevertheless, she considers herself to be politically persecuted and denies the charges against herFor this reason, she took refuge in the Argentine Embassy in Quito with her underage son since August 20, 2020, where she stayed until this weekend, when she left for Caracas.
As a result of this situation, this Tuesday Ecuador expelled the Argentine ambassador, Gabriel Fuks, and Argentina adopted “the same situation with respect to the Ecuadorian ambassador in Argentina”, according to the Foreign Ministry.
Cafiero insisted in the message published this Wednesday that “the prolonged passage of time” in the search for “a shared solution” by both parties “It was creating a situation that violated their fundamental rights.”
The foreign minister explained that Duarte and his son, a minor and an Argentine national, were in a “precarious” life situationfor which he raised the case to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights “for its intervention.”
This motivated Argentina to grant in December 2022 “diplomatic asylum” and request a safe-conduct for Duarte, which was rejected by Ecuador, which, according to Cafiero, “makes the difference of opinion clear.”
Argentinian arguments
The head of Argentine diplomacy argued that “at all times” Argentina showed “willingness to frame the action in international law, which offers solution mechanisms for these controversies”.
Argentina indicated on Tuesday that the former Ecuadorian minister “appeared” at the headquarters of the Embassy of Argentina in Caracas, after leaving the one in Quito.
The former Ecuadorian official appeared at the Argentine Embassy in Caracas at around 11:00 on Tuesday and was attended by the ambassador, Oscar Laborde, and by two other officials from the diplomatic headquarters, according to the Foreign Ministry.
In a message on Twitter, Duarte thanked Argentina for having “sheltered her from the persecution of the governments of Lenín Moreno and Guillermo Lasso”.
«I decided to leave the embassy because, by denying me the safe conduct that corresponded to me as a political refugee, according to the Caracas convention of 1954 and preventing my safe exit, the Ecuadorian government made me its political hostage“Wrote the former minister. (EFE)