Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa addresses supporters during a march to commemorate May Day in Quito, May 1, 2013. REUTERS/Kevin Granja
There’s no question the death of longtime Venezuelan Socialist strongman Hugo Chávez has opened up a void on the Latin American left.
But, really, we didn’t expect this:
Ecuador and Peru on Thursday temporarily recalled their ambassadors after relations between the neighbors soured following a supermarket brawl in Lima involving Ecuador’s envoy to Peru and female shoppers.
Rodrigo Riofrio, Ecuador’s ambassador to Peru, allegedly hit two Peruvian women and insulted them with racist slurs after an argument in a checkout line on April 21.
Ecuador has argued that Riofrio acted in self-defense and rejected Peru’s request to remove him from his post.
In the supermarket’s security videotape, shown on Peruvian television, he is seen swatting a woman with a magazine after she hit him. Several women are then seen slapping him and pulling his hair.
One can’t help suspecting the leftist government of Ecuador will make amends, though with his re-election secured, perhaps President Rafael Correa — who has been accused by his domestic rivals of lashing out at enemies and of engaging in occasional foreign policy bluster — has nothing to lose, and will stand by his ambassador. Either way, don’t look for Venezuela, still reeling from an election dispute and its own fisticuffs in parliament, to offer any mediation.
