2024-04-19 13:50:38
Vice President Verónica Abad, whose son was prosecuted in the Nene case, would need authorization from at least two instances in the country to return.
Vice President Verónica Abad, who rejects the accusations about her son in the so-called Nene case, is looking for the right path to return to Ecuador.
Abad has been in Israel since December 2023, where she serves as ambassador, on behalf of President Daniel Noboa, but he wants his return not to bring political consequences. In an interview with a Costa Rican media, Abad showed his interest in returning to the country to be with his son, Francisco Sebastián Barreiro, who is being investigated for the alleged crime of offering to carry out influence peddling.
And this March 25, the secretary general of the Vice Presidency, René Zúñiga, revealed that Abad came to him to consult the legal procedure he could apply to return.
In the consultations, it was determined that her situation is extraordinary because, on the one hand, being vice president, she responds to the law that governs public officials.
But, when carrying out ambassadorial duties in Israel, she is also governed by the foreign service law.
With this panorama, Abad would have three viable legal paths:
Return on your own
Abad believes that, with the arrest of her son and the fact that he has been sent to “the most dangerous place in Ecuador”, the maximum security prison, La Roca in Guayaquil, the aim is to pressure her to resign and abandon her position.
The Organic Law of Foreign Service states that no official will fail to attend the office in which they provide their services, except on holidays, vacations or by virtue of leave.
In any other case, failure to attend the office will constitute failure or abandonment of the position, as appropriate. Something similar establishes the Organic Law of Public Service (LOSEP). One of the established disciplinary sanctions is dismissal from office, which according to Abad, is the intention of the Noboa government.
In the hands of the Chancellery
Verónica Abad must request a license from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility which, in the case of officials who are part of the foreign service, is the only one authorized to grant it.
Paid leave may be in cases of illness or domestic calamity for the official. They are also granted, depending on the circumstances and for the time in which the license is absolutely necessary. However, this type of permit will not exceed 15 days, except in the case of illness, in which it may be granted for up to 90 days, under the criteria of the Chancellery.
Double authorization
But since Abad is also under the LOSEP regulations, Vice President Abad should request, according to Zúñiga, another license from the Ministry of Labor, so that it can be granted, after analyzing the case.
In the public sector, unjustified abandonment of work for three or more consecutive working days is a cause for dismissal.
For now, it is unknown if Abad submitted the requests to the Foreign Ministry or the Ministry of Labor, to have authorization to return, without disciplinary proceedings being initiated against him. Although the Vice President warned that, before making a decision to return, she will ask for protection from the Inter-American Human Rights System.