Ecuador refuses to sign ICC immunity deal for US citizens

AFP News, June 22, 2005

President Alfredo Palacios said he would not sign a deal to give US citizens immunity from prosecution by the International Criminal Court (ICC), despite Washington's threat to withhold 70 million dollars (57.8 million euros) of US military aid a year from Ecuador.

"Absolutely nobody is going to make me cower. Neither the government, nor Alfredo Palacios nor the Ecuadoran people need be afraid," Palacios said in a television interview broadcast Tuesday.

He revealed that US General Bantz Craddock, who is in charge of the Southern Command comprising all of Latin America, had told him Monday about the likelihood that US military aid to Ecuador might be withdrawn if he did not sign the immunity deal, the so-called "Article 98 agreement."

Washington, he said "is free" to defend its policies, "but not at the expense of Ecuador's sovereignty and legal standing." Palacios said.

"Ecuador will respect all the agreements it has signed, barring none," he added referring to the July 2002 Rome treaty that created the Hague-based ICC.

Washington -- which vehemently opposes the ICC, the world's first permanent tribunal for war crimes and crimes against humanity -- has waged a global campaign to sign immunity pacts since the court came into existence in July 2002.

The United States fears the court could become a forum for politically motivated prosecutions of US citizens, especially soldiers deployed abroad.

In May, the US State Department said 100 countries had signed so-called "Article 98 agreements," but only 71 of them have agreed to be named publicly.

"The United States has every right to make its legal arguments and we're going to respect them," Palacios said.

"But Ecuador also has every right to show its legal prerogative and to demand respect," the president added.

During a visit here Monday, Craddock told reporters that Ecuador needed to follow 90 other countries around the world, seven of them in Latin America, and sign the immunity deal for US citizens from prosecution by the ICC.

Craddock said it was not a matter of immunity but "jurisdiction," adding the law prevented the US Congress from approving military aid for countries who do not sign Article 98.

Even if the Palacio administration decided to sign the US pact, it would still need to be ratified by the Ecuadoran Congress, which has come under public scrutiny ever since the April 20 resignation of president Lucio Gutierrez.

Two human rights groups asked Ecuadoran leaders on Tuesday to resist signing the US immunity pact, reminding them that issues of sovereignty was one of the reasons behind Gutierrez' downfall -- A US-backed drug war in Colombia is pushing rebel forces toward Ecuador.

It is not the first time that Ecuador faces US pressures to sign the immunity deal.

US Ambassador to Quito, Kristie Kenney, in November announced that Washington had frozen seven million dollars in military aid to Ecuador because of its refusal to sign the immunity pact.

Note from SOA Watch: Countries that refuse to sign the deal giving US citizens immunity in the ICC are no longer eligible to receive scholarships to send students to the SOA/ WHINSEC.