Ecuador’s Prosecutor General Thursday confirmed that the arrest and extradition of the commander of Colombia’s Armed Forces, Freddy Padilla, was requested by a judge in the north of the country. The Ecuadorean government distances itself from the decision.
According to Prosecutor General Alfredo Alvear, Padilla will have to appear before the Ecuadorean court, because he, “together with former Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos, were who ordered the attack” on a FARC camp just across the border of Colombia.
The Ecuadorean government is in the process of re-establishing the diplomatic ties with Colombia that were broken following the March 1, 2008 attack. Quito distances itself from the judge’s decision and both vice-President Lenin Moreno and Fander Falconi expressed their desire to continue talks with Bogota to seek the normalization of relations.
According to the Ecuadorean Government, it has no power over its country’s judges as the judicial and executive powers are separated and function autonomously.
Bogota suspended a meeting planned for Friday after the “judicial assault” on its officials.