Ecuador wins 2nd Olympic medal; Glas asylum request denied again; Olón development case goes to trial; ‘Time to get over Correa,’ says Conaie’s Iza

Ecuador’s Foreign Ministry said Tuesday it will not release former vice president Jorge Glas from prison and grant him safe passage to Mexico. The decision followed a new request from the Mexican government which says it will grant Glas political asylum.

In its statement, the ministry said that the former vice president is serving a sentence for corruption and faces additional bribery charges in a Manabí Province earthquake reconstruction case.

Glenda Morejón and Brian Daniel Pintado won the silver medal Tuesday in the mixed 42km race-walking competition at the Paris Olympic games.

In its August 4 request, the Mexican Foreign Affairs Ministry demanded that Glas be granted “safe passage from Ecuador to Mexico” where he will receive asylum. According to the Mexican ministry, the request is based on Articles IX, XII and XIII of the 1954 Convention on Diplomatic Asylum, an international treaty binding on all countries.

In its denial, the Ecuador’s Foreign Ministry said “international conventions do not apply” in Glas’ case. “A grant of asylum to a person with pending criminal charges contravenes international legal provisions and is motivated by media pressure, not by valid legal claims,” a ministry spokesman said.

Ecuador wins second Olympic medal
Ecuador’s Brian Daniel Pintado and Glenda Morejón won the silver medal Tuesday in the mixed race-walking relay at the Paris Olympic games. The 42-kilometer race, which finished at the Eiffel Tower, consisted of four relays of 11.45 km, 10 km, 10 km and 10.75 km.

The Spanish team finished first while Australia was third.

The medal was Ecuador’s second in the 2024 games and the seventh in its Olympic history. Cuencano Pintado won the gold medal last week in the men’s 20km race walk.

Impeachment trial approved in Olón development case
The National Assembly voted Tuesday to begin impeachment trials against four government ministers for their alleged roles in a proposed real estate development in Olón. The property is owned in part by President Daniel Noboa’s wife Lavinia Valboni and is located in a protected area near the beach.

Those who will be called to trial are Environment Minister Sade Fritschi, Defense Minister Gian Carlo Loffredo, Tourism Minister Niels Olsen, and Interior Minister Mónica Palencia.

Although Valboni’s company Vinazin S.A. claims the development would not impact environmentally sensitive areas and that it had received all permits to begin construction, Assembly members said the project involved “influence peddling” due to government connections. The Assembly also accused the four ministers of refusing to provide information about their involvement in the project.

‘Move beyond Correa,’ Conaie’s Iza says
Indigenous leader Leonidas Iza insists that Ecuador’s leftist movement “cannot continue to endure the polarization and distractions created by Correismo.” In Friday and Sunday interviews, the leader of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (Conaie) said it is time to “move beyond Rafael Correa and focus on issues that Ecuadorians care about.”

“I think most of us are tired of the Correismo / anti-Correismo debate since it focuses on selfish interests that are not related to the problems of Ecuador,” said Iza, who is an announced presidential candidate. “Rafael Correa will never be president again and he may never be in the country again. Let’s get past the man and the movement, which is part of our history, and begin to build an agenda for the future. Our focus today should be on defeating the neo-liberal government of Daniel Noboa.”

Iza’s comments followed contentious meetings last week between political movements and labor unions attempting to build a leftist consensus for the February 2025 election.