MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

US retaliates expels Ecuadorean ambassador, but wants ‘positive’ relation with Quito

Ecuadorean Ambassador Luis Gallegos has to pack and leave Washington

The United States expelled on Thursday Ecuador’s ambassador to Washington in retaliation for the expulsion of the top US diplomat in Quito. Within hours, Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa accused the US of infiltrating his country’s police.

Ecuador on April 5 expelled US ambassador Heather Hodges, in protest over allegations she made in a (Wikileaks) classified diplomatic cable to Washington that Correa had knowingly appointed a corrupt police chief.

“The unjustified WikiLeaks action of the Ecuadorean government in declaring Ambassador Hodges persona non grata left us no other option than this reciprocal action,” State Department spokesman Mark Toner said. The US also is suspending talks with Ecuador scheduled for June, he said.

Hodges is the third US ambassador displaced by the fallout from classified memos made public. The U.S. envoy to Mexico resigned and the US ambassador to Libya was recalled to Washington after sensitive cables were released by WikiLeaks.

Assistant Secretary of State Arturo Valenzuela called in Ecuadorean Ambassador Luis Gallegos this morning to tell him he had been declared persona non grata and must leave the U.S. as soon as possible.

“The United States is interested in a positive relationship with Ecuador, but the regrettable and unwarranted decision to declare Ambassador Hodges persona non grata will have to be taken into account going forward,” Toner said.

Ecuador’s foreign minister, Ricardo Patiño, said that it was still possible to maintain “cordial relations” between the two countries and that trade relations and consulates haven’t been affected by the expulsions, according to a statement on the Ecuadorean Foreign Ministry’s website.

“Both countries will maintain their trade envoys for now,” the statement said in Spanish. “In a few weeks, we hope we can restart dialogue with the U.S. and get past this moment.”

President Correa meanwhile accused the US of “infiltrating” Ecuadorean police and security forces. The US last year gave Ecuador 6.36 million USD in anti-narcotics assistance for the country’s police, armed forces and judiciary.

On April 5, the Ecuadorean embassy in Washington said in a statement that the expulsion of Hodges was “aimed solely at the individual involved” and “not toward the United States government or the Obama administration.”

In Hodges’ cable, which was published in the Spanish newspaper El Pais on April 4, she wrote that the police chief’s “corrupt activities were so widely known within the upper ranks of the ENP that some Embassy officials believe that President Correa must have been aware of them when he made the appointment,” referring to the upper ranks of the nation’s police force. “These observers believe that Correa may have wanted to have an ENP Chief whom he could easily manipulate.”

Correa said the cable revealed that the U.S. “has the police and armed forces infiltrated”. He added in a statement that “this woman received information and sent it to her government. This isn’t loyalty, it’s bad faith”.

Total trade between the two nations last year was 13 billion US dollars, most of that in oil, according to US Census data. Ecuador’s government earns 24% of its revenue from oil.