Lasso described the rejection of the investment law by members of parliament as blackmail

The President of Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso, has described the members of the National Assembly as “thieves” and “corrupt” and accused them of blackmail following Thursday's vote that rejected the investment bill proposed by the Executive.

“This law has been denied because we have not accepted the blackmail of assembly members who come to ask for hospitals, electricity companies, ministries, in exchange for their vote. It is the height of the heights of those assembly members who have come to ask the government for cash,” Lasso said in a video posted on his official Twitter profile.

In this regard, he stressed that they will analyze all alternatives within the Constitution to generate jobs for women and young people. “These gentlemen of the National Assembly all they have done is to lose opportunities,” he said.

The Ecuadorian National Assembly rejected by 89 votes the motion tabled by the president of the Development Commission, Daniel Noboa, to approve the investment bill, which includes strengthening the stock market and digital transformation, presented as urgent by the Executive, as reflected in the newspaper 'El Universo'.

The benches of the Democratic Left (ID), Union for Hope (Unes) and some assembly members of Pachakutik (PK), have expressed their disagreement with this initiative, claiming that there are many legal gaps that give way to privatization processes, according to the Ecuadorian daily 'El Comercio'.

LASSO DECORATED EMILIO PALACIO

After being exiled for a decade because of former President Rafael Correa's persecution of him, journalist Emilio Palacio returned to Ecuador to be decorated for his fight for freedom of expression by current President Guillermo Lasso. Palacio, who was the former editor of Opinion of Diario El Universo, had to face a sentence with the directors of the media that, in addition to sending him to jail, required the payment of USD 40 million to the former president.

Although Correa chose to pardon those sentenced, the persecution against Palacio led him to take refuge in the United States. Correa argued that Palacio slandered him in an opinion column published on February 6, 2011, which referred to the events of the police revolt of September 30, 2010.

Last Wednesday, Palacio received the National Order of Merit in the Officer's Degree. “I am pleased to present this award, in recognition of his career as a journalist and citizen, who risked his own welfare and that of his family, in defense of freedom of the press and democracy (...). This award also symbolizes our recognition of all that journalism that always stood up,” Lasso said at the event. In addition, the Presidency acknowledged in a statement that Emilio Palacio “was affected by the infamous persecution of a government, which offended and attacked journalists and the media.”

Palacio, who was emotional and grateful for the distinction, emphasized that during Rafael Correa's government several people were persecuted for having a different opinion of the regime: “It was not the fight of a single person. If we manage to defend freedom of expression, it is because there were very brave people, who suffered in the same way,” he said. Upon receiving the award, Palacio said: “I take this medal, which I receive with such pride, as a medal for journalism, which for more than 10 years fought to defend a sacred principle: freedom of expression, which is the only tool we have to defend our rights. It is the right that allows us to defend our rights.”

(With information from Europa Press)

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