Former Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa is being accused of participating in a failed kidnapping attempt of an opposition leader, Fernando Balda, back in 2012. On these accusations, the National Justice Court of Ecuador has approve a request from the Chief Prosecutor’s office to place the accused, Correa, in preventive detention. Since Correa is presently in Belgium, a request is being issued to interpol to apprehend Correa and to extradite him to Ecuador.
telesur reports:
The Chief Prosecutor’s office requested on Tuesday the “preventive detention” of former president Rafael Correa.
The National Justice Court of Ecuador approved preventive detention for former Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa.
The Chief Prosecutor’s office requested on Tuesday the “preventive detention” of Correa, currently residing in Belgium, and ordered Interpol to be notified for his capture and extradition.
The court is accusing the former president, who led a popular progressive political movement called the “Citizens’ Revolution” in Ecuador for a decade, of “illicit association” and the kidnapping of Fernando Balda. Evidence has yet to be publicized for these accusations.
Correa tweeted that the Chief Prosecutor has breached the National Assembly’s mandate by requesting preventive detention without “providing a single piece of evidence.”
“How much success will this farce have at the international level?” Correa said. “Don’t worry, everything is a matter of time. We will overcome!”
At the time of the alleged kidnapping attempt, Balda was wanted on charges of attempting to overthrow the government for his part in a failed coup attempt in Ecuador back in September of 2010. Balda was shortly thereafter deported from Colombia for failing to obtain immigration permission from the Colombian government.
Once back in Ecuador, Balda was convicted for conspiracy to overthrow the government to one year in prison. Now that Correa is no longer the president of Ecuador, Balda is alleging that he illegally made use of public funds to arrange a kidnapping attempt on him while he was on the run in Colombia.
However, no such evidence has materialized to that effect. But, what we are witnessing is a seditious ex-convict, deported illegal immigrant, lodging allegations that the president tried to kidnap him. The charges brought by Balda are being portrayed as though Correa’s alleged kidnapping attempt was little more than a politically motivated attempt to eliminate his opposition.
However, now that Correa is no longer in the chief political office, and the opposing right wing party is now in charge, Correa, who led a leftist government critical of American interventionism in South America, is being sought out for arrest on charges that have, so far, no substantiation.
Meanwhile, another march is being called for in protest of the government’s right wing policies against labour rights, healthcare, education, and other issues in addition to Correa’s right to freedom from political persecution is under way, after two previous such demonstrations were repressed by the government, which is now led by a president who used to work with the United Nations on disability issues..
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