Ecuador has ordered 20 U.S. Defense Department employees attached to the U.S. Embassy in Quito to leave the country next week, U.S. officials confirmed, further straining an already rocky relationship between President Rafael Correa and the Obama administration.
. . .
In January, Mr. Correa had said that Pentagon workers were used to “infiltrate” Ecuador. The order ousting the Americans came days after Mr. Correa wrapped up a U.S. tour that included talks at Yale and Harvard universities and television interviews where he described himself as a “modern socialist” who wanted to improve relations with the U.S.
While the above article mentions that
Eric Farnsworth, vice president of the Council of the Americas policy group in Washington, said the number of embassy officials Ecuador ordered to leave is noteworthy. “In the past, it has been limited to kicking out an attaché or a couple of officials but this is clearly designed to get attention,” Mr. Farnsworth said. “There will have to be a tit-for-tat retaliation. There will have to be some kind of response.”
the AP reporter says
As there is no accusation of espionage, U.S reciprocation is not anticipated.
Correa threw them out because there were ‘too many of them.’
A lack of response from the U.S. will signal further erosion of American influence in our hemisphere.
In other Ecuador news, Correa is refusing to accept more funding from USAID, since they are required to utilize the funds to promote gay marriage acceptance in the predominantly Catholic country.
UPDATE:
Linked to by Pirate’s Cove. Thank you!
