[영문] Ecuador expels US Embassy official for 'meddling'

Photo: Ecuador's Foreign Minister Fander Falconi gives a press conference in Quito on February 18, 2009.

It is the second expulsion order against a U.S. Embassy official this month by President Rafael Correa, who has accused American officials of "insolence" for conditioning aid on the right to veto personnel choices.

Mark Sullivan, the Embassy's first secretary in the embassy's office of regional affairs, must leave the country within 48 hours because of his "unacceptable meddling," Foreign Minister Fander Falconi said.

Falconi said Sullivan, in a meeting with police in early February, questioned a decision by Ecuadorean Police Chief Jaime Hurtado to transfer the head of the Special Investigations Unit to another police post.

Interior Minister Gustavo Jalk said Sullivan threatened to cut off "logistical and economic" aid to the unit, which investigates high-profile cases including drug trafficking. "We can't let foreign officials set conditions over internal affairs according to their own particular views."

Gordon Duguid, acting deputy spokesman at the State Department, said the U.S. regrets Ecuador's decision.

"We also reject any suggestion of wrongdoing by Embassy staff.

Despite the government of Ecuador's unjustified actions we remain committed to working collaboratively with Ecuador to confront narcotics trafficking," Duguid said.

On Feb. 7, Correa ordered the expulsion of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement attache Armando Astorga for allegedly suspending $340,000 in annual aid because Ecuador would not allow the U.S. to veto appointments to the anti-smuggling police. U.S. Embassy officials said Astorga had completed his assignment and was already out of the country when Correa ordered him out.

On Wednesday, Falconi said Ecuador had sent a formal communique to the U.S. Embassy announcing the decision to expel Sullivan and added that he spoke personally on the phone with Ambassador Heather Hodges, who "is very worried" by the situation.

U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Martha Youth told The Associated Press that the Embassy is going to inform Washington of Ecuador's decision. She declined to comment further.

Ecuadorean Security Minister Miguel Carvajal criticized the existence of "informal pacts and practices" that give the U.S. the right to participate in or give its opinion on police staffing decisions.

"It is unacceptable that in the name of these pacts a foreign country has the capacity to participate in the selection of national police officials," Carvajal said.

Correa, an ally of Venezuela's socialist President Hugo Chavez, said Astorga announced the suspension of aid to anti-contraband police in a Jan. 8 letter that also demanded they return all donated equipment - including vehicles, furniture, cameras and phones.

Correa said Astorga's letter, addressed to Ecuador's police chief, also revealed that $160,000 in yearly aid to the Human Trafficking Unit was "being reconsidered."

Jalk, the interior minister, said Wednesday that the expulsions of Sullivan and Astorga are "separate matters."

The United States gave Ecuador $42.4 million in development and security aid last year, including $8 million in counternarcotics funding, according to the U.S. Embassy.

Ecuadorean officials declined to say how much U.S. aid Sullivan allegedly threatened to withhold from the special investigations unit.

Up until Correa's announcement that he was expelling Astorga, relations had been mostly warm with the United States. Embassy officials praised Correa for his cooperation in narcotics, although he had accused the CIA of infiltrating Ecuador's military and paying unidentified officers for information.

Ecuador hosts Washington's only base for counternarcotics flights in South America, the Manta air base. But the lease on Manta expires in November and Correa has refused to renew it.

By Frank Bajak (AP)

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