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<h1 id="reader-title">Ecuador Denies Entry to Venezuela
Opposition Figure Visiting to Campaign for Right Wing</h1>
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<p>March 15, 2017<br>
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<p>Ecuador denied entry Wednesday morning to Venezuelan
opposition figure Lilian Tintori, traveling to meet and
campaign with right-wing Ecuadorean <a
href="http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Who-Is-Guillermo-Lasso-Ecuadors-Right-Wing-Opposition-Leader-20170220-0001.html">presidential
candidate Guillermo Lasso</a> — an activity that is
banned in the country’s immigration law.</p>
<p>Tintori, wife of jailed <a
href="http://www.telesurtv.net/english/analysis/The-Distorted-Democracy-of-Leopoldo-Lopez-20150129-0022.html">Venezuelan
opposition politician Leopoldo Lopez</a>, 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."</p>
<p>An official immigration document <a
href="https://twitter.com/ESTEFANIESPIN/status/842003827716939776">circulated
online by local journalists</a> 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.</p>
<p>A separate article of the <a
href="https://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/docs/ELECTRONIC/103681/126081/F-1601695083/ley%2060%202017%20ECUADOR.pdf">Human
Mobility Law</a> 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.”</p>
<p>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 <a
href="http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Polls-Divided-on-Winner-in-Ecuadors-Presidential-Runoff-Vote-20170226-0008.html">presidential
runoff election</a> 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.”</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.”</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.”</p>
<p>Leopoldo Lopez was jailed in 2013 for his role in <a
href="http://www.telesurtv.net/english/telesuragenda/Political-Violence-in-Venezuela-20160105-0019.html">violent
protests</a> 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."</p>
<p>Lasso, a former banker who came in distant second to
frontrunner Moreno in the <a
href="http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Ecuador-Election-Exit-Polls-Predict-Lenin-Moreno-Victory-20170219-0020.html">first
round of presidential elections</a> last month, said
the denial of Tintori into the country was evidence of
“dictatorship.”</p>
<p>“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.</p>
<p>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 <a
href="http://pdba.georgetown.edu/Constitutions/Ecuador/english08.html">constitution</a>
— 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 <a
href="http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/No-One-Is-Illegal-New-Ecuador-Bill-Affirms-Right-of-Migration-20150716-0034.html">“no
one is illegal” policy</a> — 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.</p>
<p>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 <a
href="http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Ecuador-Judge-Rules-Against-Manuela-Picq-Deportation-20150817-0027.html">Manuela
Picq</a>, 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 <a
href="http://www.telesurtv.net/english/analysis/Is-Ecuadors-Left-Working-with-the-Right-Against-Correa-20150820-0027.html">accompanied
Picq at points</a> during the legal process leading up
to her deportation.</p>
<p>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 <a
href="http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Ecuadorean-Migrants-Warn-of-New-Bank-Crisis-if-Right-Wing-Wins-20170309-0006.html">Lasso
is also accused of played a role in</a> — 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.</p>
<p>Tintori’s main political activities have also including
building relationships with other right-wing figures in
the region, <a
href="http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/World-Reacts-to-Argentina-Election-Results-20151122-0027.html">including
conservative Argentine President Mauricio Macri</a>
and more recently, U.S. President Donald Trump.</p>
<p>Just weeks ago, <a
href="http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Trump-Meets-with-Wife-of-Jailed-Venezuealan-Opposition-Leader--20170215-0038.html">she
met Trump</a>, 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.”</p>
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