US bans entry of Rafael Correa and George Glass over corruption charges
Washington, (EFE).- The United States announced this Wednesday that it has banned entry into the country on former Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa (2007-2017) and former Vice President Jorge Glas, whom it accuses of corruption. Accuses of being involved.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement that Correia and Glas “are not eligible to enter the United States due to their participation in significant acts of corruption during their tenure.”
According to the Joe Biden administration, Ecuador’s former president and his ‘number two’ abused their public positions by “taking bribes in exchange for the awarding of favorable government contracts.”
In the statement, Miller expressed the United States’ support for all Ecuadorians who are “committed to increasing government transparency and holding corrupt public officials accountable.”
The United States Embassy in Ecuador said in a later statement that the ban imposed on Correa and Glaswegians from entering its territory also applies to their closest relatives.
In Correa’s case, the sanctions also include his wife Anne Malherbe, a Belgian national, and his adult children Sophia, Anne-Dominique and Raphaël.
As for Glass, the ban would also apply to his wife, Cynthia Diaz, and his son, George Glass Diaz.
Korea rejected this measure
Former Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa (2007–2017) said that the United States government “has no right” to prevent him and his immediate family from entering its territory, a ban also applied to his former Vice President Jorge Correa. Is. Glass is currently in jail.
Through a message on social networks, Correa once again proved his innocence in the face of the eight-year prison sentence and political disqualification imposed in 2020 for bribery in the ‘Bribery 2012-2016’ case, where he and his Several associates were convicted of irregular financing of Alianza Pais, the official political movement at the time.
“Human evil… They ignore the fact that no one in the world has accepted punishment for ‘mental impact’ and five countries have given political asylum to people involved in the bribery case. “They involve my family in this too. It has no right!” expressed Correa, who always questions why the sentence he was convicted of had a ‘mental impact’ on the others involved.
In another subsequent message, Correa launched “several hypotheses of this new stupidity created by gringos”, among which he mentioned possible revenge for what happened to the WikiLeaks founder (Julian Assange), who was Ecuador offered him asylum in its embassy in London while he was in need of a US judge.
The former president also commented that it could be an attempt to divert attention from the disaster facing the government of “(Daniel) Ngoba, which is at its worst facing a severe energy crisis leading to scheduled blackouts of up to ten hours a day.” It may get worse. Which impacts the country.
Likewise, he noted that this restriction could be due to the possible “involvement (of the United States)” in Ecuador’s electoral campaign for the 2025 elections, where its candidate Luisa González is among the main favorites in the polls conducted so far. Are one. , with President Noboa.
legal problems
Correa, who ruled from 2007 to 2017 as one of the leaders of the Latin American left, has been living since the end of his term in Belgium, which granted him political asylum in 2022, before Ecuador’s National Court Had requested his extradition.
For his part, Glass, one of the Correa government’s strongmen, was arrested on April 5 during an attack by Ecuadorian security forces on the Mexican Embassy in Quito, where he plans to request diplomatic asylum until December 2023. Had arrived for. A condition that was granted by the Mexican government just hours before his arrest.
There was an arrest warrant and pre-trial detention on Glass in connection with reconstruction works after the massive 2016 earthquake, where he is accused of alleged embezzlement (embezzlement of public funds).
The former vice president, who like Correa declares himself a victim of law and political persecution, also had to serve eight years in prison for two corruption charges imposed in 2017 for illicit relations in the framework of the Odebrecht case and in 2020. Had to serve eight years of imprisonment for corruption. Bribery in bribery case.
Glas was in prison in 2017 and was released from prison in 2022 due to a controversial judicial motion by a judge, who last week convicted him of bias in the processing of the motion that allowed the former vice president to regain freedom Was.