The Foreign Minister of Ecuador on the relationship with Russia: “Commercial can never be more important than the more structured values of our society”

In the Najas Palace, a French-style building that serves as the headquarters of the Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry, Juan Carlos Holguín, foreign minister of the Andean country, received Infobae in an exclusive interview to discuss Ecuador's position regarding Russia's invasion of Ukraine, on trade agreements which the country governed by Guillermo Lasso wishes to obtain, the situation in Venezuela, cooperation in the fight against corruption and Ecuador's nomination to the United Nations Security Council.

Holguín has been the Foreign Minister of Ecuador since January of this year. He entered the foreign service to replace Mauricio Montalvo, who accompanied Lasso from his possession on May 24, 2021.

The head of the Foreign Affairs portfolio, 39 years old, is an Ecuadorian businessman and politician. He holds a degree in Corporate Communication and Public Relations from San Francisco University in Quito and a Master's Degree in Public Policy from Georgetown University. He was a candidate for mayoral office in Quito in 2019 and served as Ecuador's Ad Honorem Itinerant Ambassador for strategic issues in the government of Lasso before becoming chancellor.

The new Ecuadorian minister was elected by Lasso to promote Ecuador's trade agreements with other countries around the world and work on the revival of foreign investment and employment.

Many people when you took office criticized that you were not a career diplomat, but in the complex situation of the Russian invasion we could see that the Foreign Ministry managed to evacuate hundreds of Ecuadorians who were in Ukraine, how does this also show the management of the foreign service under your leadership?

One of my priority activities has been to form a team of foreign service people with career professionals. In addition, the Foreign Ministry has always considered what happened between Russia and Ukraine as a high priority. It was these two decisions that marked the success of the evacuation process. Today we can see the importance of having evacuated 700 Ecuadorians, in less than 12 days on three humanitarian flights, considering what has happened in Bucha and in other Ukrainian cities where dozens of civilians have died as a result of attacks, violations and condemnations of human rights. Time puts things in order, especially because of the international congratulations and thanks we have had, for example, from the governments of Colombia and Peru. We can see that the evacuation process was a success.

Considering that Ecuador has rejected the Russian invasion of Ukraine, that at the United Nations Assembly the country supported Russia's suspension of the Human Rights Council, and that the Minister of Production has said that the trade agreement to be concluded with Russia will not be made for obvious reasons, how do bilateral relations look like between Ecuador and Russia?

Ecuador has been consistent and since the beginning of this war has maintained a position for peace and condemned the violation of human rights and the violation of international law. We maintained this position even in the vote in the UN Assembly. Ecuador voted in favour without hesitation, since for both President Guillermo Lasso and this government there will never be another element more important than the protection of human rights. About what the Minister of Production and Foreign Trade, Julio Prado, has said, I fully support it. Commercial can never be more important than the more structured values of our society and there is indeed damage. With Russia we had a trade of more than $1 billion a year. There are products such as bananas that are not easy to place in other markets because of phytosanitary measures. We are working hard with the European Union, with the United States and with some countries of the Persian Gulf to open up immediate opportunities for Ecuador in the midst of this conflict.

Tell me more about those other markets and what deals you will make with them

In the midst of this conflict, Minister Prado aims to achieve 12 free trade agreements in the next three years, some of them being priorities such as the bilateral agreement with Mexico that leads us to the Pacific Alliance. There is also the free trade agreement with China, the free trade agreement with Korea, with India and now with Israel on the next trip we will take with the president among others. The important thing is that this concept of “having more Ecuador in the world and more world in Ecuador” must be reflected in that each free trade agreement is beneficial to our citizens, we have seen it with the example of the free trade agreement with Europe, where Ecuador has a favorable balance. It is also seen in the opportunities we have with China... The line of our trade agreements is one of the five axes of this Foreign Ministry and the work of foreign policy is to accompany and complement in the above all political moments that are required.

You mentioned the Pacific Alliance, how is Ecuador's integration progressing into that regional system?

In Buenaventura's latest declaration, it was already established that Ecuador will be accepted as a full member of the Pacific Alliance, that is the most important diplomatic work that has been done in the last semester. There was unanimity of criteria among all the founding presidents of the Pacific Alliance and the only obstacle, so to speak, we have is the signing of the bilateral treaty with Mexico that is on the right track. In the next few days we will have the last stage of negotiations and we are trying to bring everything to a close in April and with that we would kill two birds with one stone: we signed the treaty with Mexico and Ecuador will automatically request membership as a full member of the Pacific Alliance.

The Foreign Ministry sent through diplomatic channels to the United States and Panama the information that the legislative commission investigated on the the case of Alex Saab, will the same be done with the report of the Petrochina case? What are the next actions in the fight against corruption?

With absolute respect for the other levels of the State, the Foreign Ministry fulfills the role of foreign policy. If the Assembly or one of its committees requests information or requests that information be sent or forwarded to other States, we are the coordinator of that transmission of information precisely because we are the diplomatic counterpart of States. That is what we did in the Saab case report. In addition to diplomatic channels, there have also been other actions. Let us remember that almost USD 3 billion was laundered through the SUCRE financial system, according to the Commission's report. The Foreign Ministry has denounced the SUCRE treaty, that is one of the measures that the State had pending. It is a system that served to launder money and had to be denounced immediately and that is already in the right constitutional channels.

The sad thing at this point in the fight against corruption in our country is that the greatest number of cases have to be oxygenated in international courts and not in our own country. The Gunvor case is one such example, as is the case of Alex Saab. Now the imprisonment of former comptroller Carlos Polit or the withdrawal of visas from certain characters in Ecuador as a result of corruption, as mentioned by the American government and the State Department. We are aware of what happens in the Gunvor case so that our authorities can request any kind of information. We will always handle these cases with caution, with absolute respect for the other branches of government. We do not intervene in the Ecuadorian justice system or in the international justice system.

Moving on to another topic. In the case of Venezuela, do you think there is any action that Ecuador could take in the region to support this country's return to democracy? Do you think the Venezuelan issue is stagnant?

We will always be firm believers that it is the diplomatic channels of dialogue that can generate conflict resolution in any country, and that is why Ecuador has been an active part of the dialogue groups related to Venezuela for several years. Ecuador has been firm in expressing its appreciation to the government of Juan Guaidó. We view the Venezuelan case with concern since we are directly affected, especially by the sad exodus that exists of Venezuelan citizens to our country. Today there are already more than 500,000 in a stable way in Ecuador and almost 200,000 more who are a floating population going south, towards Chile or Peru. That is why President Lasso proposed his program of regularization of migrant brothers, especially Venezuelans. This is a process that is about to come out in the next few days or weeks because we are already in the final piloting. Venezuela's solution is an immediate necessity of the region and the world. If we look at what happened in the great exodus of the Russian-Ukrainian war, we realize the magnitude of Venezuela, where more than six million people have already left that country as well.

Since he referred again to Ukraine, could Ecuador lead a regional initiative in favor of that country?

It's hard. In the United Nations vote on Russia's expulsion from the Human Rights Council, there were countries such as Venezuela, Nicaragua or Cuba that had different votes from the rest of the countries. The interesting thing is that there are many countries that have abandoned their historical positions, especially non-alignment, and today have had votes against the magnitude of the violation of human rights. I think that the important thing is always, despite ideological and political differences, to try to keep alive the flame of regional integration mechanisms, such as the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), that a great mechanism of regional integration to put these discussions, including political, ideological and the prospects of democracy, at a table. It must be emphasized that regional integration is the only thing that will bring us to prosperity throughout the region.

A few days ago you were in the United States seeking support for Ecuador's candidacy to the United Nations Security Council, what did you get? How are bilateral relations between Ecuador and the United States?

On the Security Council, we are very optimistic that Ecuador will be able to occupy that permanent seat. We have the support of several friendly countries that see Ecuador as a country that has always been consistent with its principles such as multilateralism and above all its high vocation for peace. We hope that, on June 9, Ecuador will be elected. We have already had several conversations to consolidate that candidacy and at the same time be able to prepare ourselves, should this alternative arise.

On the other hand, relations with the United States are at their best and we are very grateful for what in the last 11 months, especially, the United States has done on issues of cooperation, especially in defense, security and the fight against transnational crime structures. We see many advances in trade aspects, in the fight against climate change and we are preparing together for a major challenge that will be the Summit of the Americas in June, in Los Angeles. This great bilateral relationship must also become a great relationship with the region, which, at this time of world war, requires us to have that great joint work between north and south.

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