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 -------------- ¶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