The Diplomat
The former president of the Ecuadorian Congress and former mayor of Quito, Andrés Vallejo, will be Ecuador’s new ambassador to Spain, after the Spanish government gave the go-ahead for his appointment.
Vallejo will fill a post that was vacant after Pascual del Cioppo, who had initially been appointed ambassador in Madrid, was forced to resign before taking up the post, following statements in which he spoke of the existence of alleged contracts between the Ecuadorian Embassy and Podemos leaders, and put the government of President Guillermo Lasso in a bind.
Following Del Cioppo’s resignation at the end of August, Lasso has opted to offer the embassy in Spain to a prominent leader of the Izquierda Democrática party, which is in opposition and not part of his governing coalition, but with whom the president aspires to have a relationship of support in the National Assembly.
Andrés Vallejo, 79, is a lawyer and journalist with a long political career. He was mayor of Quito between January and July 2009; president of the National Congress between 1986 and 1987; and president of the Monetary Board in 1990. In addition, between 1988 and 1990 he was Minister of Government under the presidency of Rodrigo Borja Cevallos.
The new ambassador to Ecuador founded and chaired Izquierda Democrática and was a member of the party’s Executive Council.
The current president of the party, Guillermo Herrera, issued a statement after hearing the news of Vallejo’s appointment, in which he said that it was “strictly personal”.
Herrera expressly states that Vallejo’s decision to accept the post is not the result of “any agreement or compromise” between the Executive and Izquierda Democrática. He adds that the party has asked “to limit the participation of Andrés Vallejo in the National Executive Council and the Political Commission, as his criteria would compromise objectivity regarding the line of critical opposition and independence that we maintain – he points out – with the government of Guillermo Lasso”.
