María de los Ángeles Duarte

María de los Ángeles Duarte Pesantes (born February 15, 1963) is an Ecuadorian politician and former cabinet minister. She was Minister of Transport and Public Works from 2010 to March 2014, Minister of Economic and Social Inclusion between June 2009 and April 2010, and Minister of Urban Development and Housing from 2007 to 2009. After charges were brought against her for bribery she took refuge in the Argentinian Embassy in Quito in 2020.

María de los Ángeles Duarte
Born (1963-02-15) February 15, 1963 (age 61)
NationalityEcuador
OccupationPolitician
Known forformer minister found guilty of bribery

Life

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Ángeles Duarte was born in Guayaquil in 1963. In 1969, along with her mother and two siblings, she was a passenger on an Ecuatoriana de Aviación flight that was hijacked and diverted to Cuba.[1]

She was Minister of Transport and Public Works from April 5, 2010, to March 10, 2014, Minister of Economic and Social Inclusion between June 2009 and April 2010, and Minister of Urban Development and Housing from 2007 to 2009.

Ángeles Duarte was a former Minister of Public Works when she took refuge in the Argentine Embassy in Quito following a corruption case that implicated the former president Rafael Correa. Some have credited this to "lawfare" where the law is used for political ends.[2] Both Correa and his vice-president, Jorge Glas, were sentenced to prison terms in 2020.[3] In 2021 she was in the embassy facing an eight-year prison sentence. Because she was refusing to wear an electronic anklet she was facing an additional sentence.[4]

References

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  1. ^ "40 años del secuestro de un avión de Ecuatoriana". El Universo (in Spanish). 2009-01-19. Archived from the original on 2015-10-08. Retrieved 2023-03-15.
  2. ^ Niebieskikwiat, Natasha (2020-08-13). "Una ex funcionaria de Rafael Correa acusada de corrupción se refugió en la Embajada argentina en Quito". Clarín (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-07-08.
  3. ^ "EcuadorTimes.net Alexis Mera entered prison and Viviana Bonilla was dismissed". www.ecuadortimes.net. Retrieved 2022-07-08.
  4. ^ "EcuadorTimes.net Second trial against former minister María de los Ángeles Duarte". www.ecuadortimes.net. Retrieved 2022-07-08.