Ecuador expels U.S. diplomat

[Granma] QUITO, February 18.- The Ecuadorian government today expelled Max Sullivan, first secretary of the U.S. embassy in Quito, for interfering in the country’s internal affairs, PL reported.

Ecuadorian Foreign Secretary Fander Falconí made the announcement after the Police Command presented its report at a meeting of the National Security Council (COSENA).

The decision was adopted after confirming U.S. diplomat’s meddling in the Special Investigations Unit (UIESS), he underlined.

Sullivan worked in the office of regional affairs at the U.S. embassy in Quito.

The measure occurred 11 days after Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa ordered the expulsion of the embassy’s attaché, Armando Astorga, for trying to condition economic aid to the National Police.

Correa reported that a section of the U.S. embassy awarded funding to the police conditioned on qualifying certain agents, which he considered inadmissible and unacceptable.