The Ecuadorian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility, Juan Carlos Holguín, resigned from his position citing "personal reasons," as indicated in a letter addressed to the head of state, Guillermo Lasso.
"I have executed the mandate he gave me to serve Ecuador, always acting with justice and in law, in order to permanently safeguard the high interests of the State," he says in the letter posted on his Twitter account.
He adds that during these months he has tried to give all his skills to contribute to the common good.
"For personal reasons, I submit my resignation from the position of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility," the letter concludes.
In the message on Twitter that accompanies the letter he adds: "I thank Guillermo Lasso for playing for Ecuador and giving us the opportunity to serve him. It has not been easy, but I am sure that for the country and for his presidency, which must be respected, this is the right decision."
Holguin described as "correct" the appointment of Gustavo Manrique, current Minister of Environment, as his successor.
For his part, the president highlighted the work done by Foreign Minister Juan Carlos Holguin, regretted his resignation and said that next Monday Manrique will assume the position of Minister of Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility.
COMPLEX MOMENT
The resignation of the chancellor – who took office on January 3, 2022 – occurs at a complex moment for Lasso, against whom Parliament has initiated a political trial of censure under the accusation of embezzlement (embezzlement of public funds), but the ruler has pleaded innocent.
Lasso accuses the opposition, led by Correa (by former President Rafael Correa), of inventing evidence against him to "take power by storm and weaken and destroy democracy."
In a message to the nation this week, the Ecuadorian president pointed out that the Constitutional Court left out of the accusation the alleged crime of concussion for lack of evidence and that the charges for alleged embezzlement correspond to contracts signed in 2018 and renewed in 2020, before he became President in May 2021.
"They accuse me of allegedly abusing public funds for my own benefit when I was not yet president of the Republic. What do I have to do with a 2018 contract? There is not even an investigation by the Prosecutor's Office on that issue," the president argued.
"I have not committed any crime, much less years before I took office (as president), and since there are no grounds for a criminal trial, they invent this political trial," he added.
The head of state pointed to the mafias of drug trafficking, insurance of public companies, illegal mining and illegal oil businesses of having joined politics and being behind this political trial "to recover the illegal perks that we take away from them."
He also recalled that he was democratically elected for four years and that "the cycles in democracy must be fulfilled."
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- Ecuador
- Rafael Correa