Ecuador's Constitutional Court denies admission of Lasso's impeachment

Havana, March 28 (RHC) The Constitutional Court of Ecuador denied this Tuesday the information about the admission of the political trial against President Guillermo Lasso, who is accused of crimes against the public administration.

In a statement issued on Tuesday afternoon, the Court clarified that the plenary of that instance has not yet met to discuss this matter, since the day before it appointed Judge Richard Ortiz as the new rapporteur for the case.

Hundreds of messages on social networks from the media, politicians, and civil society organizations circulated with information about the alleged admission of the request to impeach the ruler politically.

The Court is expected to issue a decision this week on the request of the National Assembly (parliament) that could bring forward the end of the Lasso government.

In order to initiate the procedure against the head of the Executive, the approval of that judicial instance is essential. Otherwise, the petition, promoted by legislators Viviana Veloz, Mireya Pazmiño, Pedro Zapata and Rodrigo Fajardo, would have to be archived.

The assembly members appeal to article 129 of the Magna Carta and accuse Lasso of committing the crimes of concussion and embezzlement for acts of corruption in the Coordinating Company of Public Companies, in Petroecuador, and in the Public Company Flota Petrolera Ecuatoriana.

While the Government denies the accusations and describes them as destabilization attempts, social organizations support the end of Lasso's mandate, not only because of these crimes, but also because of state abandonment.

This Tuesday, hundreds of indigenous Ecuadorians demanded before the Court a favorable pronouncement from that institution regarding the trial against the ruler, considered as a democratic solution to the different crises that the country is experiencing.

Today we came peacefully, but if we have to go out into the streets later, we don't want to be called violent or terrorists, said the president of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (Conaie), Leonidas Iza, assuring that in case of not accepting the impeachment there will be mobilizations.

If the magistrates rule against it, the case is archived; but if they approve it, it goes back to parliament and there the Oversight Commission must decide whether or not to recommend the procedure within 30 days.

Once the report is ready, the head of the legislature will convene the plenary to carry out the prosecution, where the president has the right to defense and to approve his dismissal, the vote of 92 assembly members out of a total of 137 must be counted. (Source: Prensa Latina)