President Rafael Correa has expelled the World Bank's representative from Ecuador, accusing the institution of attempting to extort him when he was economy minister in 2005, officials said on Thursday.
The leftist president, in office since January, has charged that the global development lender suspended a US$100 million loan for Ecuador in 2005 in retaliation for his reform of the country's oil sector.
The foreign ministry said in a statement that Correa declared World Bank official Eduardo Somensatto of Brazil persona non grata -- a diplomatic term equivalent to an expulsion -- and immediately informed the Washington-based bank.
Diplomatic sources said the letter implies the representative's expulsion but does not necessarily mean the suspension of the bank's activities in Quito.
"The declaration of persona non grata implies that Somensatto should leave the country urgently, a bit urgently or not urgently at all," Jose Luis Moreno, a former diplomat, was quoted as saying in the newspaper El Comercio.
The foreign ministry said the World Bank was notified of the decision by letter on Tuesday to the bank's offices in Washington and Quito. At the time, Somensatto was outside Quito, it said.
In Washington, the World Bank said it wanted to keep open its communication channels with the Ecuadoran government and was evaluating the implications of Somensatto's "withdrawal."
"We reiterate the willingness of the institution to maintain dialogue at the highest level with the nation's authorities," the bank said in a statement.
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
Two Belgian teenagers on Tuesday were charged with wildlife piracy after they were found with thousands of ants packed in test tubes in what Kenyan authorities said was part of a trend in trafficking smaller and lesser-known species. Lornoy David and Seppe Lodewijckx, two 19-year-olds who were arrested on April 5 with 5,000 ants at a guest house, appeared distraught during their appearance before a magistrate in Nairobi and were comforted in the courtroom by relatives. They told the magistrate that they were collecting the ants for fun and did not know that it was illegal. In a separate criminal case, Kenyan Dennis
Incumbent Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa on Sunday claimed a runaway victory in the nation’s presidential election, after voters endorsed the young leader’s “iron fist” approach to rampant cartel violence. With more than 90 percent of the votes counted, the National Election Council said Noboa had an unassailable 12-point lead over his leftist rival Luisa Gonzalez. Official results showed Noboa with 56 percent of the vote, against Gonzalez’s 44 percent — a far bigger winning margin than expected after a virtual tie in the first round. Speaking to jubilant supporters in his hometown of Olon, the 37-year-old president claimed a “historic victory.” “A huge hug
A judge in Bangladesh issued an arrest warrant for the British member of parliament and former British economic secretary to the treasury Tulip Siddiq, who is a niece of former Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who was ousted in August last year in a mass uprising that ended her 15-year rule. The Bangladeshi Anti-Corruption Commission has been investigating allegations against Siddiq that she and her family members, including Hasina, illegally received land in a state-owned township project near Dhaka, the capital. Senior Special Judge of Dhaka Metropolitan Zakir Hossain passed the order on Sunday, after considering charges in three separate cases filed