Diplomatic tensions in Celac Lopez Obrador Ortega and Lasso will

Diplomatic tensions in Celac: López Obrador, Ortega and Lasso will not come to the Buenos Aires summit

Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso with his Argentinian counterpart Alberto FernándezEcuadorian President Guillermo Lasso with his Argentinian counterpart Alberto Fernández

The Presidents of Ecuador, William Lasso; from Mexico, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador; and from Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, They will not attend the CELAC summit, which will be held in Buenos Aires on January 24, they have learned infobae. There are tensions with the Mexicans as they disagreed with the consensus candidate in Latin America to fill the helm of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). At the same time, relations with Ecuador were affected by the application by Correa’s former minister for political asylum in Argentina Maria de los Angeles Duarte Pesantessentenced to 8 years for corruption.

Duarte Pesantes has been at the Argentine embassy in Quito since August 2020 after proving his direct involvement in the 2012-2016 bribery case. This judicial investigation uncovered an illegal funding plot by the Alianza País movement, the political coalition led by Correa and whose main protagonist was the then Minister of Transport and Public Works.

An advisor to Correa – called Pamela Martínez – He carried with him an accounting book detailing the illegal contributions of private corporations to the former President’s political apparatus. Among these companies was the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht, which has faced corruption cases across Latin America.

María de los Ángeles Duarte Pesantes, Minister of Transport and Public Works during Rafael Correa's government, has been sentenced to eight years in prison for taking bribesMaría de los Ángeles Duarte Pesantes, Minister of Transport and Public Works during Rafael Correa’s government, has been sentenced to eight years in prison for taking bribes

Argentina and Ecuador joined the Diplomatic Asylum Agreement that came into force on December 29, 1954. Within this framework, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs requested asylum in favor of Duarte and asked for a meeting of technicians from both countries to clarify the times and the way they would allow the ex-minister to leave the Argentine embassy in Quito and head to Buenos Aires to fly. In the midst of this diplomatic strife, Lasso announced his absence from the CELAC summit.

Fernández has maintained a strained relationship with López Obrador even after the Brazilian’s election Ilan Goldfajn as the new head of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), which took place in Washington on Sunday. Argentina introduced itself there Cecilia Todesca as a candidate and Mexico, which had ruled out Alicia Bárcena for the position in principle, proposed Gerardo Esquivel for the contest, which received just under 6.8% of the votes.

After the first round of voting at the IDB to appoint the successor to American Mauricio Claver-Carone, in the next, with significant support from the US and also Argentina (which remained with three key posts on the board), Goldfajn was declared the winner.

Despite the political crisis that has broken out in Brazil, Lula da Silva has recently told Lula Alberto Fernández, with whom he also has a friendly personal relationship, who will take part in the summit. The two leaders have been in touch since violent unrest began on Sunday, sparked by thousands of people sympathetic to him Jair Bolsonaro and that they destroyed the facilities of various public buildings, such as the seat of government in Planalto, in Brasilia, the Congress building and also the Federal Court, which houses the courts of the neighboring country. These protesters called for the armed forces to intervene to oust the leader of the Labor Party, who narrowly won the October 30 election.

Alberto Fernández with Lula da Silva (REUTERS)Alberto Fernández with Lula da Silva (Portal)

The organization that brings practically everyone together OAS members except for United States and Canadabut with the presence of Cuba it was an initiative of the Lula da Silva when it was founded in 2010. Its goals are to promote political dialogue, concertation and regional cooperation on topics such asFood and energy securityHealth, social inclusion, sustainable development, digital transformation and infrastructure for regional integration.

During the reign of BolsonaroBrazil was also withdrawn from the Union of South American Nations (Unasur) and chose to join the Forum for the Progress of South America (Prosur). The next Celac Summit of Heads of State and Government takes place on January 24th in Buenos Aires, an event that Lula will attend at the invitation of his Argentine counterpart, Alberto Fernandez, who exercises the pro-tempore presidency of the forum.

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