Ecuador President Lenin Moreno called on his predecessor Rafael Correa on Thursday to return home from Belgium to face justice over kidnapping charges.
Correa has dismissed the arrest warrant issued in his homeland against him as a political "plot."
Now living in his wife's native Belgium, Correa is accused of having links to the kidnapping of former lawmaker Fernando Balda in Colombia in 2012.
"I think president Correa should come, he should come, and honestly, sometimes I hope that he's found innocent of the accusations," Moreno told foreign journalists in Quito.
Moreno was vice president to Correa from 2007 to 2013 but the former allies have fallen out and Correa blames his successor for the "plot."
"He is behind this. But that's obvious. He's pushing it. I insist, he met with Balda... He is behind all this, the judicialization of politics," Correa told AFP on Wednesday.
The power struggle between the pair led to a crisis within their left-wing PAIS Alliance party, which has been in power since Correa won his first election in 2006.
Moreno has recently come out on top in that struggle as Ecuadorians voted in February to bar Correa from making a comeback in 2021 by backing a referendum on reimposing presidential term limits.
"It was also unpleasant twice being vice president to a person with authoritarian behavior," said Moreno.
"It was carried out clandestinely, underground, (with) kidnappings, human rights violations and murder!"
He added: "It scares me to know that the young idealist I met in 2006 has strangely and sinisterly turned into such a character."
Ecuador's National Court of Justice had ordered the arrest of Correa on Tuesday and alerted international police organization Interpol, a move dismissed by the former president.
"Interpol takes its time, analyses the case and, if it is political, rejects it. We have the deep conviction that it is going to throw this away, because there is nothing more political than that," said Correa.
The ex-president is not planning on going back to Ecuador, describing such a move as "almost suicide in the current conditions."
Correa has received support from Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro and his Bolivian counterpart Evo Morales.
Maduro called the arrest warrant "persecution" while Morales denounced the "politicization of the Ecuadorian justice system."
Ecuador President Lenin Moreno called on his predecessor Rafael Correa on Thursday to return home from Belgium to face justice over kidnapping charges.
Correa has dismissed the arrest warrant issued in his homeland against him as a political “plot.”
Now living in his wife’s native Belgium, Correa is accused of having links to the kidnapping of former lawmaker Fernando Balda in Colombia in 2012.
“I think president Correa should come, he should come, and honestly, sometimes I hope that he’s found innocent of the accusations,” Moreno told foreign journalists in Quito.
Moreno was vice president to Correa from 2007 to 2013 but the former allies have fallen out and Correa blames his successor for the “plot.”
“He is behind this. But that’s obvious. He’s pushing it. I insist, he met with Balda… He is behind all this, the judicialization of politics,” Correa told AFP on Wednesday.
The power struggle between the pair led to a crisis within their left-wing PAIS Alliance party, which has been in power since Correa won his first election in 2006.
Moreno has recently come out on top in that struggle as Ecuadorians voted in February to bar Correa from making a comeback in 2021 by backing a referendum on reimposing presidential term limits.
“It was also unpleasant twice being vice president to a person with authoritarian behavior,” said Moreno.
“It was carried out clandestinely, underground, (with) kidnappings, human rights violations and murder!”
He added: “It scares me to know that the young idealist I met in 2006 has strangely and sinisterly turned into such a character.”
Ecuador’s National Court of Justice had ordered the arrest of Correa on Tuesday and alerted international police organization Interpol, a move dismissed by the former president.
“Interpol takes its time, analyses the case and, if it is political, rejects it. We have the deep conviction that it is going to throw this away, because there is nothing more political than that,” said Correa.
The ex-president is not planning on going back to Ecuador, describing such a move as “almost suicide in the current conditions.”
Correa has received support from Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro and his Bolivian counterpart Evo Morales.
Maduro called the arrest warrant “persecution” while Morales denounced the “politicization of the Ecuadorian justice system.”
