Correa accuses Moreno of a "conspiracy" to take her to jail

BRUSSELS. – The former Ecuadorian president


Rafael Correa
The man who had for a decade the sum of the authorities in his country, yesterday entered a phase of defensive retreat denouncing a "conspiracy" on the part of
arrest warrant issued by Ecuadorian justice for an attempted kidnapping.

From Brussels, where he resides since last year, Correa rejected the charges of illicit association and kidnapping of former MP Fernando Balda, who led to the Court National Court of Justice to ask Interpol for the capture and extradition of the exmandatario.

"There is a whole road map, there is quite a plot," said Correa about the case that entangled him in the law. take him directly to prison 4 of the Ecuadorian capital

Correa was responsible for the Ecuadorian government from 2007 to 2017, when a man from his environment assumed the presidency,


Lenín Moreno
who a few weeks later began to deconstruct his political plot and retrace the path of leftist populism proudly flying his mentor.

Disgraced with the new government, then defeated in a referendum with which he intended to reject his career and defenestrado by an unfavorable public opinion, Correa was now stuck by the courts, which are beginning to pass old plans of Abuse of Power Act.

Former deputy Balda, a powerful opponent of the then head of state, accused him of having ordered his kidnapping in 2012, in Bogotá, where he was arrested. was a refugee, escaping the long arm of a president who apparently did not miss his steps.

According to Correa, the Moreno government is "without a doubt" behind the conspiracy to send it in the shadows. "It is behind all this, the judiciarization of politics," said the former president to AFP

The so-called "road map" plotted to materialize its downfall would also have been reported. Government appeal to legislators to elevate their "presidential immunity", and attempt to pressure other key people, such as a former head of the Intelligence Secretariat

. Ecuadorians were behind the operation in Bogotá, where they hired professional hooligans in the underworld – a maneuver that according to the denunciation was conceived from above in the scale of power and that was ruined. just in time by the Colombian police.

Ba lda was saved from kidnapping and its aftermath. in captivity of a gang of Colombian criminals and Ecuadorian espionage agents. Shortly afterwards, he was expelled from Colombia at the request of Quito, to answer for several crimes, and he was jailed for more than two years for insulting and threatening the security of the state.

The legal status of Correa arrived the day before yesterday as a suspect – who could defend himself freely – to an accused with a prison sentence. The trigger was not to appear at a hearing before the court. Correa remained in Belgium and, instead, went to the Ecuadorian consulate, a unilateral measure without legal effect.

According to Judge Daniela Camacho,
he ordered the preventive detention, the measure is a consequence of the failure of Correa to appear every 15 days before the Court, as he had ordered on June 18 from July 2.

Correa asserted yesterday that Interpol's red circular it is not going to be successful, "since this international police cooperation agency" takes time, analyzes the case and if it is political, she rejects it ", and" more political than it does not have. "In a fierce defensive maneuver, Correa deployed its legal efforts to get the job on two fronts simultaneously, with lawyers in Ecuador and in Belgium

The lawyers of Quito were already appealing the decision of the court, but without hope and with the aim, according to Correa, of "being able to go to the international tribunals". not to ask for asylum in Belgium, a country which in his opinion "would never treat" an extradition

His lawyer in Brussels, Christophe Marchand – who also advised the Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont after fleeing the 39, Spain – resumed on the other hand, the speech victimist and conspirator of his client, and ratified the denunciation of an alleged road map hand-drawn by his great enemy, President Moreno, where the starting point is a free belt and the arrival of the same. Correa depressed in a cell of Quito

"There was a trial in Quito with a decision of the judge to change the precautionary measures for a final decision of imprisonment, and this without warning, suddenly , the national detention decision, "Marchand said, and asserted that there is still" nothing in force "to allow his arrest.

The arrest warrant may "be on the way", admitted the Belgian lawyer, although "there may be some remedies that may be presented in


Ecuador
"It seems to me, when I see it all the way up to that moment, that it's a road full of illegalities, that the first idea was that he was not complying not so that he can take this detention measure, "Marchand concluded.

Correa's closest allies in the region, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and Bolivian President Evo Morales, stood in solidarity with their former colleague, with whom they shared summits and denunciations of "imperialism." ". "First Cristina, then Lula, now Rafael Correa, stop the persecution against the authentic rulers of our America," Maduro asked via Twitter.

"We denounce the politicization of Ecuadorian justice and the interference of
#EEUU with the intention of imprisoning an innocent. We are with you, Brother Correa. We will win! "Morales claimed in his Twitter account, after which Ecuador called his ambassador to Bolivia for consultations.

The case that complicates the former president

• Prosecution: Former MP Fernando Balda
  Correa accuses him of being the mastermind of his kidnapping attempt in 2012, while he was a refugee in Bogotá. The ex-legislator maintains that five people forced him into a car, but the Colombian police intercepted the vehicle and obtained his immediate release. During the investigation, a judge determined that Correa was to appear Monday and every two weeks at the National Court of Justice (NYC) in Quito. However, the former president respected the diligence of the consulate of Ecuador in Belgium. The Attorney General's office found that he had not complied with this provision and requested his pre-trial detention the day before yesterday for conspiracy and kidnapping crimes. The court accepted the request and asked Interpol for its capture and extradition
• Defense: Correa is the highest official related to this case, for which there are also three intelligence officers and a former commander of the police. stopped. In addition, they are imposing a prison order and an extradition request on a former intelligence chief in Spain. Correa, who moved to Belgium last year after a decade in power, denounces a political and judicial persecution, amidst the harsh confrontation with his successor and exalted Lenin Moreno. In his first voluntary statement, Correa denied in Brussels knowing the police involved in the case.
• Options: The case is still in the tax investigation phase, so there is the possibility that Correa will be fired before the CNJ's appeal at trial. To be prosecuted, he must be in Ecuador, because kidnapping is a crime for which Ecuadorian law prevents trial in absentia. If he was not arrested or did not appear at the prospective trial, the process would be suspended and prescribed in six years. Correa's defense can always request the replacement or dismissal of pre-trial detention. His defense also provided for the possibility of applying for asylum in Belgium, where he is his wife

AFP and ANSA agencies