Former President of Ecuador, Rafael Correastated that “The US government has no right” to ban it entry into his territory for both him and his family, a restriction that also applied to his former vice president. Jorge Glassis currently in prison.

On social media, Correa reiterated his innocence regarding the eight-year prison sentence and political disqualification handed down in 2020 for bribery in the case. “Bribery 2012-2016”where he and several of his employees were convicted of irregularly funding Alianza País, the official political movement of the time.

“Human evil… they ignore the fact that no one in the world accepted the sentence for “mental influence” and that five countries provided political asylum to those involved in the bribery case.

“They even affect my family. This has no right!” said Correa, who has always questioned whether the verdict in which he was convicted was attributed to him having a “psychic influence” on the other participants.

You might be interested > US bans entry of former President Rafael Correa and Jorge Glas

““The Gringo’s Hypothesis of This New Idiocy”

In another post, Correa put forward several “hypotheses for this new idiocy put forward by the gringos,” among which he mentioned possible revenge “for what happened to (Julian Assange),” the founder of WikiLeaks, whom Ecuador granted asylum in its embassy in London. Although this was required by US justice.

Likewise, he noted that it could be a “distraction from the disaster of the (Daniel) Noboa government, at worst” with planned power outages increasing to ten hours a day due to the severe energy crisis that is affecting the country.

You might be interested > De la Fuente: “Tension between countries is natural”

“US Participation in Ecuador’s 2025 Election Campaign”

He mentioned that this ban could be related to the possible “participation (of the United States) in the Ecuadorian electoral campaign” in the 2025 elections, where its candidate Luisa Gonzalez is one of the main favorites in the polls conducted so far, along with President Noboa.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement that Correa and Glas “are ineligible for entry into the United States due to their involvement in serious acts of corruption while in office.”

US extends ban on relatives of Correa and Glas

According to Joe Biden’s government, Correa and his number two abused their public positions by “accepting bribes in exchange for lucrative government contracts.”

The U.S. Embassy in Ecuador said in a subsequent statement that the travel ban imposed on Correa and Glas also applies to their immediate family members.

You might be interested > Jorge Glas went on a hunger strike in prison

In Correa’s case, the ban also applies to his Belgian wife Anne Malherbe and his adult children Sofia, Anne Dominique and Raphael.

As for Glas, the restriction will also affect his wife Cynthia Diaz and their son Jorge Glas Diaz.

Beltwho ruled from 2007 to 2017 as one of the leaders of the Latin American left, resided in Belgium since the end of his mandatewhich granted him political asylum in 2022 before the National Court of Ecuador demanded his extradition.

For his part, Glas, who was one of the influential men of the Correa government, was arrested on April 5 in an attack by Ecuadorian security forces on the Mexican embassy in Quito, where he arrived in December 2023 to request diplomatic asylum. a condition that was granted by the Mexican government hours before his arrest.

Firm offers

Glas was then facing an arrest warrant and pre-trial detention in a case related to reconstruction work after the massive 2016 earthquake, where he is accused of alleged embezzlement (wasting public funds).

The former vice president, who like Correa declares himself a victim of the law and political persecution, also had to serve an eight-year prison sentence on two corruption charges imposed in 2017 for illegal organization in the Odebrecht case and in 2020 for bribery in bribery case.

Glass was originally jailed in 2017 and was released from prison in 2022 thanks to a controversial court ruling handed down by a judge who was found guilty last week of avoiding the decision that allowed the former vice president to regain his freedom. (EFE)