The woman, an employee of Rafael Correa, escaped from the Argentine embassy in Quito and is now in the Argentine embassy in Caracas
A former minister convicted of corruption in Ecuador fled to Venezuela after escaping from the Argentine embassy in Quito, where she was a refugee for more than two years with her underage son, the Argentine Foreign Ministry reported on Tuesday.
“At 11 in the morning (local time) today, Tuesday, March 14, Mrs. María de los Ángeles Duarte Pesantes was present at the headquarters of the Argentine Embassy in Caracas and was attended by Ambassador Oscar Laborde and two officials of the diplomatic headquarters. This was announced by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a bulletin.
Ecuadorian ex-minister escapes to Venezuela
The official of then-president Rafael Correa (2007-2017) reported that she was in Caracas, but omitted to say how she got there or if she is accompanied by her son, the text added.
The Ecuadorian government questioned Argentina for “inconsistencies” in its explanations about how Duarte escaped. And for refusing to deliver videos from the embassy security cameras to clarify the leak, according to a statement.
The woman was sentenced to eight years in prison for the crime of bribery, which is imprescriptible in Ecuador. The former official remained in the diplomatic residence of Argentina in Quito since August 2020.
That country had offered him asylum, but the Ecuadorian government denied him a safe-conduct to leave in December.
Duarte “made inquiries about the documentation that our country could extend to him. Likewise, he stated that he had no intention of traveling to Argentina in the short term, “explained the Foreign Ministry of that country.
Ambassador Gabriel Fuks met this Tuesday with Ecuadorian Vice Foreign Minister Luis Vayas, who expressed Quito’s “strong annoyance” over Duarte’s escape.
“As it is a diplomatic jurisdiction, the Ecuadorian police do not have access to the property of more than three hectares of the Argentine mission, which has private security,” added the Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry.
The head of Argentine diplomacy, Santiago Cafiero, told his counterpart, Juan Carlos Holguín, on Monday that Duarte escaped from the legation “without the knowledge of the embassy staff.”
Rafael Correa
The former official was sentenced along with the former socialist president Correa -asylee in Belgium- and other former government officials for being part of a criminal structure that requested bribes for almost 7.6 million dollars from companies in exchange for contracts with the State, according to the Prosecutor’s Office.
Correa and former collaborators reject the court rulings and consider them a political persecution of the current right-wing government.
