President of Ecuador: Correa is not politically persecuted

QUITO (AP) – Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno affirmed on Thursday that his predecessor, Rafael Correa was not politically persecuted and l? had urged to return to the country to face a lawsuit for the kidnapping of an exopositor.

Moreno badured the foreign press that he was guaranteeing the total independence of the judiciary and baderted that "he would like (Correa) to be innocent of what they are doing." ; blame. "

Considering the fact that Correa who has been living in Belgium since last year, ignored the order to appear before the Ecuadorian National Court this body asked in the last hours at the Interpol "who proceeds to the immediate location and capture" for the purposes of extradition.

The former president is being prosecuted judicially in Ecuador for the kidnapping in August 2012 of former MP Fernando Balda in opposition. Bogotá

In consulting Moreno about Correa's argument – that he is a persecuted politician – the president replied: "The same can be done (Joaquín)" El Chapo & # 39; Guzmán. Anyone can do the same thing … and always find a lawyer who finds serious arguments to be politically persecuted. "

" All we want is that there is truth and justice, nothing more, the truth defends itself "

Moreno, who was vice president of Correa at two occasions (2007 to 2013), stated that it is not "nice" to have served with a person "who may have authorized illegals, kidnappings, human rights violations and murders. "

" It scares me, I wish it were not true. "

A few hours earlier, in an interview with the Associated Press from his home in Brussels, Correa said that the Ecuadorian request for extradition is only one. government's ploy to end the opposition and added that it would bring him back to politics, and he also badured that he did not intend to appear before the courts. his country.

The case for which Correa is being prosecuted began with differences with Balda, who was harshly criticizing the Correa government, which he accused of corruption, whereas when the president pointed to him as the Author of an alleged plot to overthrow him

When tensions intensified, Balda fled to Colombia, where strangers tried to kidnap him, but was saved at the last a group of taxi drivers, alerted the police and read the vehicle that they had taken to the Ecuadorian politician.

Criminal investigations in Colombia determined that three Ecuadorian police intelligence agents had hired joint criminals, now in prison, to kidnap ex-legislator Balda.

In this case are also linked the former director of police intelligence, General Fausto Tamayo, and the former National Secretary of Intelligence, Pablo Romero