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INFO RHMFISS/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL
RHMFISS/HQ USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL
RUEHBO/AMEMBASSY BOGOTA
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S E C R E T QUITO 000033 
 
SIPDIS 
NOFORN 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 25X1- HUMAN 
TAGS: PREL PGOV EFIN PTER EC VE
SUBJECT: New Foreign Minister Patino from Left Side of Correa's 
Circle 
 
REF: QUITO 5; 094 QUITO 841; 08 QUITO 1062; 07 QUITO 1607 
...



id: 244780
date: 1/21/2010 23:21
refid: 10QUITO33
origin: Embassy Quito
classification: SECRET//NOFORN
destination: 06QUITO2937|07QUITO1607|07QUITO290|08QUITO1062|10QUITO5|94QUITO841
header:
VZCZCXYZ0000
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHQT #0033/01 0212321
ZNY SSSSS ZZH
O R 212321Z JAN 10
FM AMEMBASSY QUITO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0676
INFO RHMFISS/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL
RHMFISS/HQ USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL
RUEHBO/AMEMBASSY BOGOTA
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA
RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS
RUEHGL/AMCONSUL GUAYAQUIL
RUEHLP/AMEMBASSY LA PAZ
RUEHPE/AMEMBASSY LIMA
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S E C R E T QUITO 000033 
 
SIPDIS 
NOFORN 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 25X1- HUMAN 
TAGS: PREL PGOV EFIN PTER EC VE
SUBJECT: New Foreign Minister Patino from Left Side of Correa's 
Circle 
 
REF: QUITO 5; 094 QUITO 841; 08 QUITO 1062; 07 QUITO 1607 
07 QUITO 290; 06 QUITO 2937 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: Andrew Chritton, Charge d'Affaires; REASON: 1.4(D) 
 
¶1.  (C) Summary:  On January 21, President Rafael Correa named 
Ricardo Patino as Ecuador's foreign minister, applauding Patino's 
loyalty to Correa's political project and great ideological 
consistency.  A political fixer in Correa's small inner circle, 
Patino has had very limited contact with the Embassy.  Patino 
announced that his first priorities would be promoting the 
UNASUR-U.S. relationship and an Amazon rainforest conservation 
project called Yasuni-ITT.  President Correa's disapproval of the 
MFA's handling of the Yasuni-ITT project triggered former FM 
Falconi's resignation (ref A).  Patino's appointment suggests an 
renewed ideological cast to Foreign Ministry actions, which could 
easily slow or impede U.S. initiatives.  End summary. 
 
 
 
¶2.  (S/NF) Patino has been the liaison between the Executive and 
the National Assembly and involved in organizing the PAIS 
movement's committees of the citizens' revolution.  The founder of 
Ecuador's branch of Jubilee 2000 (a debt forgiveness international 
NGO), he influenced the GOE position on nonpayment and seeking a 
deep discount on certain commercial debt.  He left the Finance 
Minister's office in 2007 after allegations that he manipulated the 
debt market.  GRPO sources have alleged that Patino received funds 
for the Correa campaign from Venezuela and the FARC.  More detailed 
biographic information follows. 
 
 
 
¶3.  (S/NF) BIOGRAPHY 
 
 
 
A trusted confidant of President Rafael Correa, Richard Patino has 
served in three ministerial positions in the Correa government: 
Political Coordination (since December 2007), the Coast (July to 
December 2007), and Economy and Finance (January to July 2007). 
 
 
 
As Minister for Political Coordination, Patino has managed the 
Correa government's interactions with social groups, local 
governments, and the National Assembly.  His work as the link 
between the Executive and the National Assembly has been criticized 
by the opposition and government allies.  Assembly member Dalo 
Bucaram of the government-aligned Ecuadorian Roldosist Party (PRE) 
told us that Patino stood in the way of an open dialogue between 
the Executive and the Assembly's political parties.  The PRE 
requested that Patino no longer serve as the link to the Assembly, 
but Correa ratified him in that position.  President Correa's 
estranged brother Fabricio has called Patino a terrorist and 
criticized him for giving orders to the National Assembly.  Patino 
has participated in an array of negotiations with social movements 
on different topics, including indigenous demands, flour subsidies, 
transportation issues, pensions, and street vendors' rights.  A 
staffer with the National Electoral Council (CNE) told us that an 
official working for Patino called all the shots at the CNE. 
 
 
 
Patino was involved in establishing Committees of the Citizens' 
Revolution of the Proud and Sovereign Fatherland (PAIS) Alliance 
(ref b).  He refused to appear before a National Assembly 
commission on that subject, arguing that it was a party, not 
government, initiative. 
 
 
 
One of the goals of the Ministry of Coordination of Politics, 
according to its website (www.mcpolitica.gov.ec), is to establish a 
relationship with political parties and organizations in the region 
with which the government has affinity.  Patino's international 
role included accompanying Correa to an ALBA summit; promoting Plan 
Ecuador and the Yasuni-ITT initiative in Europe; travel to 
 
 
Venezuela and Bolivia; and speaking for the government on the March 
2008 Colombian incursion into northern Ecuador. 
 
 
 
Patino was a member of a government-appointed debt audit 
commission, the report of which was used to justify the GOE's 
decision to default on part of its commercial debt in late 2008 
(ref C).  He was part of a government delegation that traveled to 
other countries to argue that the Ecuadorian foreign debt was 
illegitimate.  His focus on the debt issue was apparent in 1999 
when Patino helped establish the Ecuadorian branch of Jubilee 2000, 
an international NGO calling for forgiveness of developing country 
debt. 
 
 
 
Patino's performance as Minister of Economics and Finance was 
controversial, and he struck Embassy staff at the time as inept on 
economics.  He stated that Ecuador might not honor its 
international debt obligations, and then made the payments a few 
days later.  In May 2007 a video became public where Patino made 
comments that seemed to imply manipulation of the debt market, for 
which he was censured by Congress (ref D).  The Department of 
Justice and the Securities Exchange Commission initiated an 
investigation of him at that time (Post does not know the results). 
Patino's move to head the newly-created Ministry of the Coast in 
July 2007 isolated him from this scandal, but was considered a 
demotion.  In theory the Ministry of the Coast oversees various 
sub-ministerial government offices in Guayaquil. 
 
 
 
Former Ambassador Jewell made a courtesy call on Patino in February 
2007 (ref E).  During that meeting, Patino congratulated himself on 
the ease with which he prepared his first budget, called some debt 
illegitimate, and welcomed the opportunity to work with the USG on 
microfinance and supporting small businesses. 
 
 
 
In 2006, Patino was the national political director for the PAIS 
Alliance, Correa's political movement, during the presidential 
campaign.  Two separate GRPO sources, one highly credible, have 
alleged that Patino obtained and managed Venezuelan funds for 
Correa's campaign.  An uncorroborated report from a GRPO source 
indicated that Patino also solicited funds from the FARC for 
Correa's campaign.  In addition, Patino enlisted support for Correa 
from members of the former Ecuadorian terrorist group Alfaro Vive 
Carajo (ref F). 
 
 
 
When Correa was Minister of Economy and Finance in 2005, Patino was 
his Chief of Staff and then his Vice Minister of Economy.  Patino 
was the coordinator of the Technical Advisory Committee of the 
GOE's Inter-ministerial Employment Commission and an outside 
consultant for the International Labor Organization.  He taught at 
the University of Guayaquil's Economics Department and the Superior 
Polytechnical School of the Coast. 
 
 
 
Patino has a master's degree in development economics from the 
International University in Andalucia, Spain (2001).  He obtained 
an undergraduate economics degree at the Autonomous Metropolitan 
University of Iztalapa, Mexico (1979).  A press article reported 
that Patino supported the Sandinista National Liberation Front in 
Nicaragua after graduating in Mexico. 
 
 
 
Patino was born in 1954 in Guayaquil (which is also Correa's home 
town).  He is married to Miriam Alcivar and they have one daughter. 
According to Guayaquil sources, Patino is rumored to be homosexual. 
CHRITTON 

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