Interpol arrested Walter Solís Valarezo, former Ecuadorian minister of the presidency of Rafael Correa, this Wednesday in Mexico, and the Mexican Government refused to extradite him as it stated that the former official has had “refugee status” since 2021.
“Solís Valarezo has ‘refugee status’ in our country, in accordance with the procedure established in the Law on Refugees, Complementary Protection and Political Asylum, and will, therefore, receive the protection that the Law grants him,” reported the Foreign Ministry in a message on social networks.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE) issued this statement following the request of the National Court of Justice (CNJ) of Ecuador, which last week asked the Mexican authorities to extradite the former official accused of acts of corruption.
This request is based on the accusation that falls on Solís Valarezo, who is considered the alleged person responsible for having abused public property, for which he has a preventive detention order, although since 2021 he has been a refugee in Mexico.
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Given this, the Foreign Ministry also specified that the former minister is protected by the principle of “non-refoulement” to the country of origin, “established in the Convention on the Status of Refugees and of which Mexico is a party.”
Likewise, he noted that the SRE has been in permanent communication with the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) to coordinate the actions that must proceed immediately, in order to guarantee the freedom of Solís Valarezo “and the right he has to remain as a resident in the country.”
Solís Valarezo, who held the Transportation and Public Works portfolio, is one of the nine defendants in the case of reconstruction works after the 2016 earthquake, in which the Ecuadorian Prosecutor’s Office found evidence of alleged embezzlement (embezzlement of public funds). in Correa’s management.
Among the accused is also former vice president Jorge Glas, who on April 5 was detained in an assault by police and military forces on the Mexican Embassy in Quito, hours after the Mexican Government had granted him asylum, considering him persecuted. political.
This raid led to Mexico breaking diplomatic relations with Ecuador
With information from EFE
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