For the second time in two weeks Ecuador’s government expelled a U.S. diplomat.At a press conference yesterday, Foreign Minister Fander Falconi accused Mark Sullivan- first secretary in the U.S. embassy's regional affairs office- of meddling in internal affairs. “Sullivan…placed conditions on logistics cooperation with the police," Falconi said as he ordered the diplomat to leave by Friday.
Last week, Ecuadorian officials ordered U.S. customs attaché Armando Astorga to leave the country for similar reasons to that of Sullivan. Both Astorga and Sullivan had been accused of interfering with Ecuadorian police in exchange for counternarcotics aid.
The State Department denied the allegations and called the expulsions “unfair”:
Acting Deputy Spokesman Gordon Duguid said the expulsions stem from the fact that certain Ecuadorian police were banned from taking part in U.S. counternarcotics training programs, but rejected "any suggestion of wrongdoing by embassy staff"…Anti-drug aid hasn’t been the only point of disagreement between the governments of the U.S. and Ecuador. Last year Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa declared that his government will not renew the U.S. military lease to the Manta air base.
Asked whether the State Department would reciprocate the expulsions by kicking out Ecuadorian diplomats from the United States, Duguid would say only, "We will respond as appropriate."
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Online Sources- BBC News, Xinhua, AFP, CNN, The Latin Americanist, Reuters
I wonder if that is the same Mark Sullivan who (at one time, anyway) worked for the Congressional Research Service?
ReplyDeleteIf memory serves, the Sullivan at CRS did some bang-up research exposing the Posada files.
He's level-headed and obviously extremely well-informed on US-Latin America relations, and, for my money, arguably one of the most creditable authorities on the subject.
If anyone knows, that would help me, at least, gage Correa's agenda.