GOE OBJECTS TO HRR

C O N F I D E N T I A L QUITO 000646

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/15/2016
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM EC
SUBJECT: GOE OBJECTS TO HRR


Classified By: HROff Vanessa Schulz for reason 1.4 (b&d)


1. (SBU) Summary: FM Francisco Carrion objected to the
recently published human rights report in a meeting with the
Ambassador on March 10. Carrion said the U.S. had no right
to judge Ecuador on human rights issues, and had not
sufficiently credited the GOE with HR improvements since
President Palacio took office. The Ambassador defended the
report, explaining its origin and that it was not meant to
single out Ecuador negatively. Carrion made similar public
statements about the human rights report, widely reported by
the press, and criticized the U.S. on Guantanamo and pending
extraditions. Then Minister of Government Alfredo Castillo
publicly acknowledged the report had "some truth to it." The
GOE's reaction reflects its inexperience and
hyper-sensitivity to criticism. End Summary.


2. (SBU) In a March 10 meeting, Foreign Minister Francisco
Carrion told the Ambassador that he found it offensive that
the U.S. would judge Ecuador on its human rights record. He
was glad, though, that in the first section of the report,
more problems were listed for Colombia than for Ecuador, he
said. Carrion said that President Palacio was very upset
about the report and wanted to formally protest to the
Embassy, but Carrion had talked him out of it.


3. (SBU) The Ambassador explained to the FM that the report
is compiled in the same way for all countries and that
Ecuador was not singled out in any way. She explained that
the report is mandated by the U.S. Congress and lists human
rights challenges and problems in all countries. In a
subsequent meeting with President Alfredo Palacio the same
day, Palacio did not raise the human rights report with the
Ambassador.


4. (U) Carrion told press that the report was incomplete and
did not sufficiently differentiate between the periods under
Gutierrez and those under Palacio. He said that he believed
that the human rights situation had significantly improved
under Palacio. He also said that there was no systemic
pattern of human rights violations by the GOE, but raised no
factual objections to the material in the report. Carrion
said the U.S. should not act as a "world policeman" when it
has its own human rights problems, in which he included
Guantanamo.


5. (U) Meanwhile, Minister of Government Alfredo Castillo,
who resigned on March 15, told press that there was some
truth in the human rights report. He said human rights
weaknesses could be improved by fighting corruption and
increased economic development.

Comment
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6. (C) Carrion's reaction may be colored by his own ambition
to outlast the Palacio government, according to Ministry
insiders. By this analysis, Carrion's bluster is an attempt
to convince Democratic Left party leaders that he gave no
quarter resisting criticism from abroad.

JEWELL