ECUADOR: CORREA APPOINTS NEW FOREIGN MINISTER,

C O N F I D E N T I A L QUITO 002631 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: TEN YEARS TAGS: PGOV PREL ETRD EC SUBJECT: ECUADOR: CORREA APPOINTS NEW FOREIGN MINISTER, URGING TRADE FOCUS Classified By: Ambassador Linda Jewell for Reasons 1.4 (b&d). ¶1. (SBU) Summary. Following harsh criticism by President Rafael Correa of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Minister Maria Fernanda Espinosa resigned her position as Ecuador's Foreign Minister on December 5, 2007, citing health reasons for her departure. Two days later, President Correa announced as her replacement the current Minister of Tourism, Maria Isabel SALVADOR Crespo, while calling for increased focus on boosting international trade. Espinosa is contemplating an offer to serve as the new Ecuadorian ambassador to the United Nations. The Embassy has maintained good working relations with Salvador during her tenure as Minister of Tourism. She is regarded as pragmatic, well-organized and a good manager. End Summary. ¶2. (C) Espinosa publicly denounced rumors that she had been fired and insisted that she had to step down due to health problems. Indeed, the announcement by Espinosa of her departure comes after a brief hiatus from her duties as Foreign Minister, due to a bout of appendicitis and surgery to have her appendix removed. During her absence, President Correa traveled to Asia on November 19-27, a trip that was replete with errors on the part of the Foreign Ministry. A very public example of this was the failure by the MFA to provide sufficient notice to the USG of the President's transit through Miami, causing him to have to remove his shoes and belt during a TSA inspection. This angered Correa and incited a public promise never to transit through the U.S. again. He blamed in part the MFA, including the Ecuadorian Embassy in Washington and Consulate in Miami. Further incidents, due mostly to insufficient staffing during the same trip, only aggravated the President's dim view of the MFA. Protocol-related problems during the inauguration of the Constituent Assembly on November 30 were the last in this series of shortcomings that provoked Correa to comment on December 2 that the foreign service contains too many "cocktail mummies who are not able to do anything." ¶3. (SBU) In her departing press conference, FM Espinosa counted as her accomplishments during her over ten months service the formation of the GOE,s long-term foreign policy plan, the halt in aerial fumigations by Colombia near Ecuador's northern border, a bilateral cabinet meeting 
between Peru and Ecuador, and a raise in salaries for Foreign Ministry personnel. However, Espinosa leaves behind a ministry with difficult issues outstanding, including renewal of ATPDEA, continued incursions of armed insurgents from Colombia into Ecuador's northern border region, and negotiation of a cooperation/trade agreement between the Community of Andean Nations (CAN) and the EU. ¶4. (C) On December 7, President Correa named Maria Isabel Salvador, current Minister of Tourism, as the new foreign minister. He urged the Foreign Ministry to focus on international trade, saying that Ecuadorian diplomats should have a commercial background that allows them to sell the country to the rest of the world, and called this the mission of the new minister. ¶5. (U) Salvador has served as Minister of Tourism since April 25, 2005, and continued under Correa as a carryover from the Palacio administration. She served in this position at the same time that current President Correa was the Minister of Economy and Finance and current Minister of Defense Wellington Sandoval was the Minister of Health. ¶6. (C) As Minister of Tourism, Maria Isabel Salvador was perceived as pragmatic, well-organized and a good manager, and coordinated well with the Minister of Environment. Salvador was effective in her initiative to sell Ecuador's tourism to domestic and international clients. Galo Vasconez, Director of the Ecuadorian Commission on Economic and Territorial Development (CEDET),told Embassy officials that Minister Salvador was instrumental in setting up key meetings during President Correa's trip to Asia, which the MFA had not been able to do. The Embassy has maintained good working relations with Minister Salvador in her position as Minister of Tourism. Salvador does not have experience in the MFA, although she was exposed to diplomacy as a child. Her father, Jorge Salvador Lara, a well-known historian, was ambassador to several countries, including the Vatican, and was Foreign Minister on two occasions, from April to November of 1966 and from December 1976 to June 1977. ¶7. (U) Biographical Note. Minister Maria Isabel Salvador Crespo is approximately 45 years old, studied law at the Pontificate Catholic University in Quito 1980-1984, studied at the School of French Language and Civilization at the University of Geneva in Geneva 1985-1988 and also at the College of Higher Education at the San Francisco University of Quito 1998-1999. Salvador's professional experience includes work as Assistant Director of the World Council of Churches for Development in Geneva,, Commercial Agent for Air France, General Manager of SORCIAIR, President and Treasurer for the Mixed Funds Office of the Tourist Promotion Office of Ecuador, Director of the Aerial Transport Office, Vice President of Pichincha Provincial Chamber of Tourism (CAPTUR),and President of the Association of Executives of Tourist Companies. JEWELL