FORMER FM FACING POSSIBLE CONGRESSIONAL CENSURE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 QUITO 001344

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/09/2015
TAGS: PGOV PREL EC
SUBJECT: FORMER FM FACING POSSIBLE CONGRESSIONAL CENSURE

Classified By: Ambassador Kristie A. Kenney, Reason 1.4 (b&d)


1. (C) Summary: The president of Congress has publicly
threatened to bring charges against Former Foreign Minister
Patricio Zuquilanda, who lost his position with ex-President
Gutierrez' ouster, for violating Ecuador's sovereignty by
allowing the US military to sink decrepit Ecuadorian flagged
fishing vessels involved in migrant and drug smuggling. As
of June 9, however, no official petition for this motion had
been brought before the Congress. A frantic Zuquilanda
called the Embassy on June 9, saying that the Ambassador
would also be named in the inquiry. The censure of
Zuquilanda by Congress would be mostly symbolic, however, as
it would carry no real weight. The "boat sinking" issue has
been controversial here, fueled by distorted media reports.
The move by Congress is another sign of increasing
nationalism, which looks to blame the US on a variety of
issues. End Summary.

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Congress' Accusations Based on Leftist Report
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2. (U) Congress announced that it would seek censure of
former FM Patricio Zuquilanda for allowing USG "boat
sinkings," thereby permitting the violation of Ecuador's
sovereignty. President of Congress Wilfrido Lucero notified
Zuquilanda on June 7 of the Congressional inquiry, which is
based on a May 18 letter from the leftist Socialist and
Pachakutik party blocks to the president of the Congress.
The deputies state in their letter to Lucero that when
Zuquilanda was asked to appear before the Congress to discuss
the boat sinking issues while still FM, he either remained
silent, discredited the accusations of USG wrongdoing, or
repeated the US Embassy version without injecting his own
criticism. Zuquilanda is accused of knowing of the boat
sinkings and having done nothing to stop them. Zuquilanda,
who served as FM under ex-President Lucio Gutierrez from
August 2003 to April 2005, remains in Colombia since
Gutierrez' ouster.


3. (U) The Congressmen's accusations against the former FM
are primarily based on a report by ALDHU, a leftist
Ecuadorian human rights organization. The report states that
the US has sunk approximately 40 Ecuadorian boats, many in
Ecuadorian waters, since November 1999. ALDHU also claims to
possess a video with testimony of a detainee from one of the
boats, who claims to have been tortured and degraded by the
US military.

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Zuquilanda, Panicked in Bogota
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4. (C) Zuquilanda, in Bogota, called the Embassy in a
panicked state on June 9 with an urgent request to speak to
the Ambassador, saying she had also been named in the
Congressional inquiry. Zuquilanda claimed Minister of
Government Mauricio Gandara, a known nationalist, was behind
the moves against him, and said that the leftists were taking
over Ecuador; this was just another lashing out at the USG.
Zuquilanda said he was preparing his defense paper.

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Constitution Outlines Censure Procedure
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5. (U) Article 130 of the Constitution states that Congress
can carry out a political trial against various high-level
government officials during or within one year of ending
their government service. The Congress can then censure the
official with a majority vote. If the censure implies
criminal violations, it will be recommended that the case
pass to the criminal courts. In Zuquilanda's case, the
accusations only point to a violation of the Constitution
concerning sovereignty, not a violation of the penal code.
Therefore, a censure would be a symbolic gesture only.

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Comment
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6. (SBU) This political trial of the former Foreign
Minister may turn into another forum for bashing the US. For
Ecuadorian Congressional leftists, who believe the US can do
no right, Zuquilanda's failure to go along with the boat
sinking accusations, whether or not they had validity, is
considered a crime worth censure. He seems to be on trial
for insufficient public nationalistic posturing.


7. (C) While FM, Zuquilanda repeatedly claimed the "US could
have no better friend in Ecuador" than him. Regrettably, his
actions rarely matched his bravado. While Zuquilanda's
Foreign Ministry was less frontal in its opposition to many
USG policies, it rarely supported us on issues of concern,
whether UN votes or bilaterally (Article 98). Therefore, we
do not feel we owe Zuquilanda any assistance on this matter.
Kenney