Ecuador’s Congress Dismisses Ombudsman Carrion

On Wednesday, Ecuador’s National Assembly censured and dismissed through a political trial the Ombudsman Freddy Carrion for failure to perform his duties.

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Controlled by right-wing parties supporting Guillermo Lasso’s administration, the Assembly also ordered the impeachment file be sent to the Prosecutor's Office and the Comptroller General to initiate investigations against Carrion.

The Labor Ministry will also be notified about his so he cannot exercise any position in the public sector during the next two years. Besides being imprisoned since May, Carrion is currently processed for a sexual abuse allegedly perpetrated during a party held at the residence of former Health Minister Mauro Falconi.

Lawmakers from the leftist Union for Hope (UNES) party voted against the removal of the Ombudsman, assuring that the impeachment was full of illegalities and violated due process.

Given that there was no real evidence on the non-fulfillment of functions, the right-wing parties sought that Carrion be sanctioned for criminal matters that the Justice should analyze but not the Assembly through a political trial, lawmaker Viviana Veloz explained.

The Pachakutik lawmaker Edgar Quezada also considered that there were no elements to demonstrate the non-fulfillment of functions, since the impeachment was actually a vendetta against the "only official who defended the citizens during the 2019 national strike."

In November of that year, the elimination of fuel subsidies sparked massive protests for several days, which were brutally repressed by the Police under the command of then-President Lenin Moreno.