[Witness Was Close Associate of Lasso’s Inner Circle, Business
Partners, and Campaign Donors]
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ECUADOR: MURDER OF KEY WITNESS IN INVESTIGATION OF PRESIDENT LASSO,
OTHERS, RAISES MORE QUESTIONS  
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April 3, 2023
CEPR
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_ Witness Was Close Associate of Lasso’s Inner Circle, Business
Partners, and Campaign Donors _

Ecuador's President Guillermo Lasso speaks during a news conference
at the Rafael Angel Calderon Guardia museum in San Jose, Costa Rica,
March 1, 2023,

 

Washington, DC — On Friday, Ecuadorian police found the body
of Rubén Cherres
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had apparently been murdered
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alongside three other people, in Punta Blanca, a seaside resort on the
Ecuadorian coast. Authorities had been looking for Cherres since
January 21, when a warrant was issued for his arrest. Cherres’s
murder is the latest crime in a series of corruption revelations that
have shaken Ecuador, and that implicate Ecuador’s scandal-plagued
president, Guillermo Lasso.

“This multiple murder raises more questions about Lasso’s inner
circle and the mounting evidence that the president has been
surrounded by corruption and criminal enterprises,” said Mark
Weisbrot [[link removed]], co-director
of the Center of Economic and Policy Research. “The Biden
administration should not be seen supporting a government like
this.”

Rubén Cherres was a close collaborator of Danilo Carrera, President
Lasso’s brother-in-law and lifelong business associate. Carrera was
also an important funder
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Lasso’s presidential campaign. Carrera and Lasso share a long
history at Banco de Guayaquil, in which Lasso is a majority
shareholder, and in the offshore emporium
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they built around it. When Lasso was elected in 2021, Carrera replaced
him as president of the bank.

Although he holds no formal position in the Lasso administration,
several former government officials have stated that Carrera plays an
important advisory role to the president and is a powerful figure in
the presidential palace. Notably, Carrera accompanied Lasso on his
December 2022 trip to Washington, DC. 

“Several investigations
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alleged that President Lasso has used the United States financial
system as a tax haven and to hide assets, in violation of both
Ecuadorian and US law,” said Weisbrot. “The Biden administration
should investigate this, in accordance with its commitments to
countering this type of corruption, as well as supporting our own rule
of law in the United States.”

In the last few months, journalists from La Posta have accused
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of being at the center of a complex web of corruption. Carrera was
first accused of being involved with false contracts in the energy
sector
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Then leaks of phone and chat conversations implicated Carrera in a
cash-for-executive-appointments scheme, including appointments in
ministerial positions. The murdered Cherres allegedly was the man
tasked to run these schemes, which are now being investigated by the
prosecutor general.

On February 24, the prosecutor general announced it was opening a new
investigation
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Lasso’s shutting down of a police probe into Cherres’s links with
what Ecuadorian authorities have referred to as the “Albanian
mafia,” a drug-trafficking ring. The allegations are that Lasso
exerted pressure
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the commander of the National Police and the head of the
anti-narcotics police to cover up the investigation’s report.

Lasso, meanwhile, has done everything in his power to block
investigations in which he is involved. He withdrew specialized
police personnel
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the prosecutor’s office, and has repeatedly threatened journalists
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have made this corruption public. The latter have complained that they
have been the target of frequent death threats, most recently
denouncing renewed threats
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their lives and safety last Friday.

With the death of Rubén Cherres, a key witness in the potential links
between the Lasso administration and organized crime has been
eliminated. 

Lasso currently faces impeachment proceedings
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which have been approved by the country’s Constitutional Court
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In accordance with the law, this impeachment will be settled in
Ecuador’s parliament, the National Assembly, which will vote in the
coming weeks on whether to remove Lasso from office.

The Constitutional Court approved 
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impeachment proceedings on the grounds
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additional accusation of corruption that recently emerged. Lasso is
accused of having opposed the termination, and then authorizing the
renewal, of an allegedly overpriced oil transportation contract. The
manager of the state-owned oil transportation company claims to have
warned the president that this contract 
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not legitimately priced and would have significant budgetary effects.
This manager was then fired after attempting to terminate these
contracts. A report from the comptroller general also advising the
president against the signing of these contracts was received, but
ignored, by Lasso. As a result, Lasso has been accused by the National
Assembly of embezzling public funds. 

“The Biden administration should refrain from any statement or
action that could be seen as interference in Ecuador’s sovereign
judicial process and in the investigations into the possible crimes
committed by Lasso. Failure to make clear that the US supports the
rule of law in Ecuador risks alienating the US government from the
population and from other governments in the region,” said CEPR’s
Director of International Policy Alex Main. “In light of mounting
evidence of criminal behavior at the highest levels in Ecuador, the
Biden administration should scrupulously avoid expressing positions
that could be seen as attempts to shore up President Lasso. Instead,
the Department of Justice should show that it takes corruption
allegations seriously, no matter where they may emerge, and
investigate Lasso and Carrera’s offshore holdings in the US.”

_THE CENTER FOR ECONOMIC AND POLICY RESEARCH (CEPR) was established
in 1999 to promote democratic debate on the most important economic
and social issues that affect people’s lives. In order for citizens
to effectively exercise their voices in a democracy, they should be
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_Toward this end, CEPR conducts both professional research and public
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_CEPR was co-founded by economists Dean Baker
[[link removed]] and Mark Weisbrot
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Professor at the CUNY Graduate School and Director of the Luxembourg
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University._

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* Ecuador
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* U.S. foreign policy
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