U.S. aid group told to leave by September

Ecuador’s government has told the U.S. Agency for International Development that it will not renew its agreements with the South American country.

In a Nov. 26 letter sent to the U.S. Embassy in the Ecuadorean capital of Quito says, the “USAID must not execute any new activity,” nor widen any existing projects in Ecuador.

Gabriela Rosero of Ecuador’s international cooperation agency, who signed the letter addressed to USAID program officer Christopher M. Cushing, said in a subsequent interview with the AP that the U.S. government aid organization must leave by Sept. 30, 2014. “The decision has been made,” she said.

President Rafael Correa suggested in December that the USAID’s programs were no longer welcome in Ecuador, saying on one of his regular Saturday programs on television and radio that “we don’t need charity.” He also suggested that the presence of the USAID program has led to U.S. meddling in Ecuadorian affairs.