Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa, who threw out Barack Obama’s representative in 2011 and Colombia’s ambassador in 2010, is threatening to freeze relations with Peru if his envoy, Rodrigo Riofrio, is forced from his post. The spat may leave Ecuador with no official representative in its third-biggest export market, said Michel Levi, coordinator of the Andean Center of International Studies at the Universidad Andina.
Peru’s government last week requested that Correa remove Riofrio after an “incident” in Lima involving the envoy, according to an April 30 statement from Peru’s Foreign Ministry. Correa defended Riofrio, saying he was the “victim of aggression” and that he wouldn’t respect Peru’s request to withdraw the ambassador.
“All of our respect for Peruvian women, but we also respect the truth,” Correa said May 4 in a statement published in the president’s gazette. “If the extraordinary relations we have with Peru sadly have to be affected, what a shame, but I’m not going to betray the truth.”
Ambassadors Recalled
Both Peru and Ecuador recalled their ambassadors last week for consultations and Peru’s government has asked Riofrio not to return. Correa said May 4 he won’t let Peru’s ambassador back into Ecuador if Riofrio isn’t allowed to continue at his post in Peru.
One of the two women involved in the scuffle with Riofrio said the altercation began when she and her daughter cut in front of Riofrio as he stood in a Lima supermarket check-out line on April 21, according to a news report by Peru’s DiaD television station. Riofrio insulted the women and the daughter hit the ambassador first, according to the report.
Riofrio said in an April 29 statement e-mailed by the Ecuadorean Foreign Ministry that he was sorry for the “personal incident” and didn’t provoke the fight. Riofrio denied he insulted the women and said he only defended himself from the women’s attacks.
Videos distributed by Peruvian newspaper La Republica show a man identified as Riofrio punching and kicking a woman at a supermarket in Peru’s capital.
The fight has sparked protests outside the ambassador’s residence in Lima and a lawyer for the two Peruvian women filed assault charges today, La Republica reported.
‘Diplomatic Crisis’
Both governments bear some responsibility for escalating the dispute, Levi said today in a phone interview from Quito.
“It’s important that Correa fights for truth and justice, but at this point, he’s putting the security and credibility of the state at risk,” Levi said. “The relevant thing here is that there’s a diplomatic crisis created by a street fight.”
Ecuador and Peru signed a peace accord in 1998 ending border wars dating from the 19th century. In August, the two countries said they are planning a joint venture to explore for oil on the Ecuadorean side of their shared border.
The two nations also signed a $300 million agreement last year to connect their oil pipelines to carry Ecuadorean crude to Peru’s northern port of Bayovar.
Ecuador’s Foreign Ministry didn’t immediately reply today to a telephone message seeking comment on Correa’s statements. Attempts to reach Riofrio through the ministry’s press office were unsuccessful. Peru’s Foreign Ministry didn’t immediately respond to a telephone message today seeking comment.
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