Ecuador Suspends New Ambassador Trip to Venezuela

Ecuador’s foreign minister said Wednesday that his country has suspended the trip of its new envoy to Venezuela and has recalled its ambassador in Bolivia for consultations.

The foreign ministry released statements protesting the declarations of “neighbor governments” regarding the judicial case against former Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa.

“We see with unease the statements of the presidents of Bolivia and Venezuela, in relation to the imprisonment order given by the Ecuadorean justice system against the former President Rafael Correa,” the ministry said.

“We demand as a democratic government the respect of neighbor governments toward our division of powers and the world of the judicial power that is being carried out in Ecuador,” the foreign minister, Jose Valencia Amores said according to Ecuadorean public media outlet El Telegrafo.

Bolivian President Evo Morales and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro had condemned the call for the preventive detention of Correa on Twitter.

“We reject the request of the Ecuadorean chief prosecutor for the preventive imprisonment of the former president of that country, the Honorable Rafael Correa. We denounce the politicization of the Ecuadorean justice system and the interference of the United States that intends to incarcerate an innocent. We are with you, Correa! We will overcome!” Morales published on Twitter Tuesday.

Venezuela’s Maduro also condemned the decision. “First Cristina. Then Lula. Now Rafael Correa. Enough of the persecution against authentic leaders of Our America. The Bolivarian Revolution is in solidarity with the Ecuadorean people and Rafael Correa.”

On Tuesday, the Ecuadorean Ministry of Justice requested the preventive detention of former President Correa for allegedly being tied to a kidnapping, charges which Correa vehemently denies and says there is no evidence for. The request was subsequently approved by a court, and an arrest request was sent to Interpol.

Rafael Correa led Ecuador for 10 years as its president, and leader of the progressive political movement known as the Citizens’ Revolution.