MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

US State Dept. bans former Ecuadorean leaders from entering the country

“Nobody in the WORLD has accepted the sentence for 'psychic influence',” Correa replied

The US State Department announced Wednesday it was designating former Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa (2007-2017) as ineligible to enter the country. The measure also applied to former Vice President Jorge Glas (2013-2018) due to their involvement in cases of significant corruption while in public office. Both leaders reportedly “abused” their position by accepting bribes, including through political contributions, in exchange for awarding public works contracts.

State Department Spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement that Correa and Glas “are ineligible to enter the United States due to their involvement in significant acts of corruption during their tenure,” which showed the support of the United States for all Ecuadorians who are “committed to increasing government transparency and holding corrupt public officials accountable.”

After the announcement, Correa replied on X that such a move could have been influenced by recent events in Ecuador. “Hypothesis of this new idiocy made by the gringos: Retaliation for [Julian] Assange. A distractor to divert attention from the disaster of [current President Daniel] Noboa's government, in its worst moment. Involvement in the Ecuadorean electoral campaign. They will not break us,” the leftwing leader argued while complaining that Washington had included his family in the resolution.

Assange spent years under asylum at Ecuador's Embassy in London.

Correa also insisted on his innocence regarding his eight-year prison sentence and political disenfranchisement imposed on him in 2020 for alleged influence over the others involved. “Human evil... They forget that nobody in the WORLD has accepted the sentence for 'psychic influence' and that 5 countries have given political asylum to those involved in the Bribes Case. They even put my family in the case, there is no right!,” wrote Correa, who was charged with receiving US$ 6,000 in 2014 for an alleged bribe. He claimed that the sum was a loan he repaid in 2015.

Ecuador's Attorney General's Office also accused Correa's government officials of allegedly receiving money from businessmen to secure contracts with the State. Those funds would have been used by Correa's Alianza País political force to pay for campaign expenses.

During Correa's second term in office, Glas served 6 years in prison for the Odebrecht and other scandals. He is currently in jail after being convicted in two corruption cases while he is currently being prosecuted for a third one. He was arrested last April 5 in a questionable police raid into the Mexican Embassy in Quito, where he had requested asylum.

Correa has resided since 2017 in Belgium, where he was granted political asylum in 2022 to avoid jail in Ecuador.