Ecuador expels US ambassador over Wikileaks cable

2011-04-06 01:54:31 GMT+7 (ICT)

QUITO, ECUADOR (BNO NEWS) -- Ecuador announced on Tuesday it is expelling the U.S. ambassador in Quito over U.S. diplomatic cables released by Wikileaks, La Hora newspaper reported.

Foreign Minister Ricardo Patiño said U.S. ambassador Heather Hodges has been declared "persona non grata." He told reporters that he had asked her to leave the country as soon as possible and said the decision is not intended to affect relations with the United States.

Hodges was asked to leave the country in response to a diplomatic cable alleging widespread corruption within the Ecuadorean police force. The cable, which was allegedly signed by her, was released Monday by the whistle-blowing website Wikileaks.

Patiño called Hodges yesterday to request an explanation, and according to him, the diplomat replied that the documents had been stolen and that neither she nor her government would comment.



In the 2009 diplomatic cable, the U.S. Embassy in Ecuador said that corruption is widespread and explained that police officer Jaime Hurtado Vaca, who resigned his post in May 2009, used his power to extort, facilitate human trafficking and to protect others involved in corruption.

It also alleges that corrupt activities were so well known that some officials at the U.S. embassy believed that Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa knew about them.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-04-06

And the response to the corruption was?

1. Request more aid money.

2. Blame the USA

3. Blame the opposition

4. Demand that the USA apologize and retract the statement that Ecuador is a dirty as a toilet in a cheap Pattaya beer bar.

5. All of the above.

6. Non of the above.

Rafael Correa and the US are like cat and dog for a reson.

Tiger