A former minister evades Ecuadorian justice and reappears in Venezuela

The former Minister of Public Works of Ecuador, María de los Ángeles Duarte Pesantes, escaped at the beginning of this week from the Argentine embassy in Quito, where she was in political asylum.

She is in the middle of the judicial process, which resulted in her sentence in 2020 to serve 8 years in prison for corruption during her internship in the leftist government of Rafael Correa.

On Tuesday, the Government of President Guillermo Lasso confirmed that Duarte Pesantes had irregularly left the diplomatic headquarters while filing a complaint to the Foreign Ministry of Argentina for allowing the escape of the former Ecuadorian official.

She served as Minister of Economic and Social Inclusion (2009-2010), Transport and Public Works (2010-2013), and Urban Development and Housing (2015-2017).

Last December, the Government of Alberto Fernández announced its intention to grant political asylum in the South American country to the former Correista minister.

However, the initiative was criticized by the Executive of Lasso, who said it was not willing to grant the safe conduct required by Duarte Pesantes to leave Ecuador without being detained for the pending conviction against her.

The former Ecuadorian official was sentenced for her participation in the plot called “Bribes 2012-2016”, a bribery scheme in which Rafael Correa participated and allowed the Alianza País formation (Correism) to capture undeclared financing from different companies.

So far, the Argentine diplomatic staff has hinted that at some point last weekend, “the presence” of Duarte Pesantes was not registered in the embassy building in Quito, something that would have happened while the ambassador was busy with the work inherent to her position.

DUARTE SUDDENLY APPEARS IN VENEZUELA

This bizarre story does not end there since it was confirmed in the afternoon of Tuesday that María de los Ángeles Duarte Pesantes had reappeared in the Argentine embassy in Caracas, perhaps taking advantage of the alliances that Correa has always had with the Chavista dictatorship.

How did she leave Ecuador, how did she enter Venezuela, and how did she get to the diplomatic headquarters in the Venezuelan capital?

So far, these questions can only be answered in the field of speculation.

However, everything points to a scheme of connivance hatched by the Kirchnerist administration of Fernández and Maduro to -with complicity in Ecuador- make the ex-minister circumvent the Ecuadorian justice system.

Regarding Duarte’s reappearance in Caracas, Argentine diplomacy issued a statement confirming that she “showed up” at the embassy in the Venezuelan capital.

“Mrs. Duarte Pesantes informed that she is currently in Caracas – without explaining how she did it, nor if she is with her son – and made inquiries about the documentation our country could provide her with. Likewise, she stated that she has no intention of traveling to Argentina in the short term”, reads the communication.

For the time being, Ecuadorian authorities have summoned the ambassador of Argentina in Quito, Gabriel Fuks, to provide information on the process of Duarte’s escape.

This is on the understanding that there are “some inconsistencies” in the data he has given on the process of evasion of Justice that the former Correista minister was involved in.

On Twitter, Rafael Correa has defended Duarte Pesantes, describing her as a “patriotic and honest woman”.

In the same social network, the former Ecuadorian official confirmed that she left the Argentine embassy in Quito because “the Ecuadorian government turned me into its political hostage. I had to leave at my own risk, but I exercised my right”.

With information from LGI