[News] Ecuador Denies Entry to Venezuela Opposition Figure Visiting to Campaign for Right Wing

[Anti-Imperialist News]

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Ecuador-Denies-Entry-to-Venezuela-Opposition-Figure-Visiting-to-Campaign-for-Right-Wing-20170315-0013.html 



  Ecuador Denies Entry to Venezuela Opposition Figure Visiting to
  Campaign for Right Wing

March 15, 2017

Ecuador denied entry Wednesday morning to Venezuelan opposition figure 
Lilian Tintori, traveling to meet and campaign with right-wing 
Ecuadorean presidential candidate Guillermo Lasso 
<http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Who-Is-Guillermo-Lasso-Ecuadors-Right-Wing-Opposition-Leader-20170220-0001.html> 
— an activity that is banned in the country’s immigration law.

Tintori, wife of jailed Venezuelan opposition politician Leopoldo Lopez 
<http://www.telesurtv.net/english/analysis/The-Distorted-Democracy-of-Leopoldo-Lopez-20150129-0022.html>, 
arrived at the airport in Guayaquil from Miami at 1:30 a.m. local time 
Wednesday morning. On her social media accounts she reported that 
immigration authorities had retained her passport and denied her entry, 
a move she claimed amounted to a violation of her "human rights."

An official immigration document circulated online by local journalists 
<https://twitter.com/ESTEFANIESPIN/status/842003827716939776> showed 
that Tintori’s entry was denied for her failure to justify her 
immigration status and explain the reason for her visit. According to 
Ecuador’s Human Mobility Law, lack of a valid visa when required or 
failure to justify immigration status will result in “immediate 
departure of the inadmissible person” from the country “without the need 
for administrative processing.” It also states that such travelers can 
return to the country when the reason for which they were denied entry 
is resolved.

A separate article of the Human Mobility Law 
<https://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/docs/ELECTRONIC/103681/126081/F-1601695083/ley%2060%202017%20ECUADOR.pdf> 
on the right to political participation explicitly states: “Temporary 
visitors in Ecuador will not be able to interfere in matters of internal 
politics of Ecuador.”

On social media, Tintori made references to her political motivations 
for visiting Ecuador, writing on her Facebook account that Ecuadoreans 
“have an opportunity for change” on April 2, referring to the date of 
the presidential runoff election 
<http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Polls-Divided-on-Winner-in-Ecuadors-Presidential-Runoff-Vote-20170226-0008.html> 
between governing party candidate Lenin Moreno and opposition leader 
Guillermo Lasso. “They are not letting me enter because they know that 
change is coming to Ecuador,” she said in a video posted on her Facebook 
and Twitter accounts, referencing the Lasso's campaign slogan. “They are 
not letting me in because they do not want me to help my Ecuadorean 
brothers and sisters.”

In response to Tintori being denied entry, Lasso also confirmed that the 
Venezuelan had planned to enter the country to support his bid for 
president. “A few weeks ago we agreed that she would come for a few days 
to accompany Maria de Lourdes and I in this campaign,” Lasso said in a 
video message, referring to his wife, who stood beside him in the video.

In a press conference on Tintori’s case in Quito Wednesday, Interior 
Minister Diego Fuentes explained that when immigration authorities asked 
Tintori about the reason for her travels, she stated that the visit had 
a political agenda at Lasso's invitation.

Fuentes stated that immigration authorities had acted in accordance with 
the law. He highlighted the article of the Human Mobility Law banning 
foreigners from participating in political activities and also pointed 
to a separate article of the same law stating that the Ecuadorean state 
has the power to “deny entry to a foreign person on the basis of an 
action or omission committed.”

Tintori, who arrived in Ecuador on an American Airlines flight from 
Miami, was put on a flight back to Miami at 6:45 a.m. local time Wednesday.

Fuentes confirmed that Tintori returned to Miami on the earliest 
available American Airlines flight. He welcomed Tintori to return to the 
country on a tourist visa if she intended to conduct tourist activities, 
adding, “She cannot engage in political activities,” on a tourist visa.

On her Twitter account, Tintori, who frequently describes Venezuela as a 
“dictatorship,” claimed that she was denied entry to Ecuador because the 
country is “complicit in (Venezuelan President Nicolas) Maduro’s 
dictatorship.”

Leopoldo Lopez was jailed in 2013 for his role in violent protests 
<http://www.telesurtv.net/english/telesuragenda/Political-Violence-in-Venezuela-20160105-0019.html> 
that claimed the lives of 43 Venezuelans. Since then, Tintori and 
leaders from Lopez's right-wing Popular Will Party have been campaigning 
around the globe for his release, calling him and others involved in the 
violent protests "political prisoners."

Lasso, a former banker who came in distant second to frontrunner Moreno 
in the first round of presidential elections 
<http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Ecuador-Election-Exit-Polls-Predict-Lenin-Moreno-Victory-20170219-0020.html> 
last month, said the denial of Tintori into the country was evidence of 
“dictatorship.”

“Not allowing the entry of Lilian Tintori, wife of Leopoldo Lopez, 
confirms the dictatorship Ecuador is living the dictatorship of a 
political party,” Lasso said in his video message.

Lasso also misleadingly referenced the article of the constitution that 
allows foreigners to vote — a civil right accorded to foreign residents 
“as long as they have resided legally in the country for at least five 
years,” according to the constitution 
<http://pdba.georgetown.edu/Constitutions/Ecuador/english08.html> — as 
well as the principle of “universal citizenship,” which promotes free 
movement to “transform the unequal relations between countries, 
especially those between North and South.” While Ecuador’s widely 
celebrated “no one is illegal” policy 
<http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/No-One-Is-Illegal-New-Ecuador-Bill-Affirms-Right-of-Migration-20150716-0034.html> 
— applauded by the U.N. Refugee Agency — offers a framework to 
decriminalize irregular immigration status, not override other sections 
of the immigration law barring foreigners from interfering in local 
politics.

A high-profile case amid opposition protests in 2015 brought similar 
migration laws to light and offers a precedent for application of 
Ecuador’s law barring foreigners from participating in local politics. 
French-Brazilian academic Manuela Picq 
<http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Ecuador-Judge-Rules-Against-Manuela-Picq-Deportation-20150817-0027.html>, 
living in Ecuador with a cultural exchange visa, was deported in August 
after participating in opposition protests that at times turned violent. 
Her visa was revoked, according to then-Foreign Minister Ricardo Patiño, 
for “carrying out political activities” not allowed under the cultural 
exchange immigration status. Picq’s case similarly sparked accusations 
of human rights violations from the ranks of the opposition, including 
Lasso’s running mate Andrez Paez, who accompanied Picq at points 
<http://www.telesurtv.net/english/analysis/Is-Ecuadors-Left-Working-with-the-Right-Against-Correa-20150820-0027.html> 
during the legal process leading up to her deportation.

Despite Lasso’s defense of the legality of Tintori’s planned visit, as 
the governor of Guayas in 1999 he ordered a foreigner be expelled for 
less. Months after the 1999 banking crisis — which Lasso is also accused 
of played a role in 
<http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Ecuadorean-Migrants-Warn-of-New-Bank-Crisis-if-Right-Wing-Wins-20170309-0006.html> — 
the then-governor called for the deportation of Venezuelan economic 
analyst, Jose Luis Cordeiro. The Venezuelan analyst had criticized the 
economic policies of the government of then-President Jamil Mahuad, 
under whom Lasso went on to serve as minister of finance. Lasso argued 
at the time that Cordeiro’s statements showed a “lack of respect” 
against Mahuad, adding that “it is not possible to allow foreigners to 
threaten the national honor” of Ecuador.

Tintori’s main political activities have also including building 
relationships with other right-wing figures in the region, including 
conservative Argentine President Mauricio Macri 
<http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/World-Reacts-to-Argentina-Election-Results-20151122-0027.html> 
and more recently, U.S. President Donald Trump.

Just weeks ago, she met Trump 
<http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Trump-Meets-with-Wife-of-Jailed-Venezuealan-Opposition-Leader--20170215-0038.html>, 
Vice President Mike Pence and Florida Senator Marco Rubio in the White 
House. After the meeting, she thanked Trump on her Twitter account for 
“standing with the Venezuelan people.”

------------------------------------------------------------------------

-- 
Freedom Archives 522 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415 
863.9977 www.freedomarchives.org
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/news_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20170315/7fbdf67a/attachment.htm>