Ex-president banned from entering US over corruption cases
The United States, on Wednesday, banned former Ecuadoran president Rafael Correa and his deputy Jorge Glas from entering its territory over their involvement in “significant corruption,” the US State Department said.
Correa and former vice president Glas are “generally ineligible for entry into the United States due to their involvement in significant corruption during their time in public office,” the department said in a statement.
The resolution also applies to the “direct relatives” of both men, such as wives and adult children, according to a statement released by Washington’s embassy in Quito.
Correa is currently in Belgium – which granted him asylum – after being sentenced in absentia to eight years in prison for corruption and is barred from running for public office.
Glas is in a maximum security prison in Ecuador and faces charges of embezzlement and corruption.
Ecuadoran security forces stormed Meixco’s embassy in Quito in April to arrest Glas, who had been given asylum there, with the rare incursion into diplomatic territory sparking a standoff between the two nations.
Former president Correa, who was a harsh critic of Washington during his decade-long administration from 2007 to 2017, said the charges against him were unsubstantiated and the US decision was not fair.
In 2020, Correa was sentenced in absentia to eight years in prison for corruption while in office.
