Washington, DC -- Rep. Eliot L. Engel (D-NY), Ranking Member of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, today released the following statement on the expulsion of U.S. Ambassador to Ecuador Heather Hodges:

"Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa’s decision to expel U.S. Ambassador Heather Hodges is disappointing and counterproductive, both for the U.S. – Ecuadoran relationship and for the Ecuadoran people.

"Tens of thousands of Ecuadorans depend on the Andean Trade Preferences (ATPDEA) for their livelihoods.  At a time when ATPDEA has lapsed and there is still a chance that Congress could renew the preferences, President Correa has seriously undermined the possibility that these preferences will be reinstated in the foreseeable future. Correa’s irresponsible expulsion of Ambassador Hodges is both whimsical and impulsive, and comes at a great cost to his own people.

"Ecuador wishes not to be lumped in with Venezuela and Bolivia as an obstacle to progress, and I would like to give President Correa the benefit of the doubt. But in South America he has now joined their "exclusive club" of leaders which have expelled United States Ambassadors.  If President Corea would like to separate himself from Chavez and Morales, now is the time to do so.  While I expect the United States will respond in kind, I can only hope that this diplomatic dispute will be short-lived, and Ecuador will not become the third country in South America with which the United States will share a lengthy Ambassadorial absence."

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