The US State Department announced on Wednesday that it would ban the entry into the country of former Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa (2007-2017) and former Vice-President Jorge Glas, whom it accuses of being involved in corruption cases.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement that Correa and Glas “are ineligible to enter the United States due to their involvement in significant acts of corruption during their terms in office.” .
According to Joe Biden’s administration, the former Ecuadorian president and his “number two” abused their public position “by accepting bribes in exchange for the awarding of favorable government contracts.”
In the statement, Miller expressed U.S. support for all Ecuadorians who are “committed to increasing government transparency and holding corrupt officials accountable.”
Correa, who governed from 2007 to 2017 as one of the leaders of the Latin American left, has resided since the end of his mandate in Belgium, which granted him political asylum in 2022, allowing him to avoid prison in Ecuador.
The former president, still very present in the political life of his country through social networks, is sentenced to eight years in prison and disqualified for the “2012-2016 Bribes” affair.
Glas, who was one of the strongmen of the Correa government, was arrested on April 5 during the attack by Ecuadorian security forces on the Mexican embassy in Quito, where he was seeking asylum.
Glas was then subject to an arrest warrant and placed in preventive detention in the case of reconstruction works after the strong earthquake of 2016, where he is accused of alleged embezzlement (misappropriation of public funds), although he and Correa declare themselves victims. of political persecution.
Correa: “There is no right”
The former president of Ecuador exclaimed Wednesday that “the United States government has no right” to bar him and his immediate family from entering its territory.
Through a message on social networks, Correa once again proclaimed his innocence in the face of the eight-year prison sentence and political ban imposed on him in 2020 for corruption in the “Copies” affair. wine 2012-2016”, in which he and several of his collaborators were found guilty of irregular financing of Alianza País, the official political movement of the time.
“Human evil… they ignore that no one in the world has accepted the conviction for “psychic influence” and that five countries have granted political asylum to those involved in the corruption affair. “They even involve my family. There is no right!”, expressed Correa, who still questions the fact that in the sentence in which he was sentenced, he was attributed a “psychic influence” on others people involved.
The U.S. Embassy in Ecuador said in a later statement that the entry ban on Correa and Glas also extended to their next of kin.
In Correa’s case, the ban also covers his wife of Belgian nationality, Anne Malherbe, and his adult children Sofía, Anne Dominique and Rafael.
For Glas, the restriction will also apply to his wife, Cinthia Díaz, and their son, Jorge Glas Díaz.
Correa, who governed from 2007 to 2017 as one of the leaders of the Latin American left, has resided since the end of his mandate in Belgium, which granted him political asylum in 2022, before the National Court of Justice of Ecuador does not request his extradition.
