Ecuador: Central Bank President Resigns Amid Forged Degree Scandal

Pedro Delgado, cousin of President Rafael Correa Degaldo, resigned as President of Ecuador's Central Bank on December 19 after discovering he forged his Economics degree. The discovery was presented to the State Attorney General on November 20, 2012 [es] by opposition politician Enrique Herrería, after he conducted a thorough investigation into Delgado's educational background. Nevertheless, President Correa defended his counsin in his weekly address and in retaliation went after the prosecution and the media.

The weekly address from November 24, 2012, after the allegations were made. Video taken from archivodigitaleu‘s YouTube channel:

Article 69 of the Monetary Authority and State Bank Law outlines that, in order to serve as President of the Central Bank, “it is necessary to hold a post-graduate degree from an accredited university, local or abroad, in a field related to the primary function of the position.” But on November 22, El Universo from Ecuador published an article that claimed Pedro Delgado admitted to a Miami court that he in fact did not hold a Ecuadorian university degree.

On November 23 [es], the same paper reported that Delgado had presented a university degree to Costa Rica's Central American Business Administration Institute (INCAE), a claim the institution confirmed.

According to Ecuadorian paper El Comercio [es], Herrería visited INCAE on December 5 to verify Delgado's academic record; but he came up empty-handed. The article goes on to explain that Delgado was officially registered at Universidad Católica del Ecuador [es] from the spring semester of 1983 until the spring semester of 1990, despite never graduating from the university. La Hora [es] indicated that upon evaluation, the President of INCAE was skeptical and promised to provide the requested documentation as quickly as possible.

EcuadorTV's YouTube channel posted the video of Delgado's resignation [es]:

President Rafael Correa (@MashiRafael) publicized his reaction on Twitter:

@MashiRafael: Día durísimo. Verificamos que Pedro Delgado había presentado un título falso en el INCAE. Le ha hecho un grave daño a la Revolución.

@MashiRafael: Very rough day. We've confirmed Pedro Delgado provided a forged degree to INCAE. He's caused great damage to the Revolution.

Vaderetro Referencias [es] posted images of the forged document Delgado provided to the Quito School of Economics. The diploma indicates a Masters Degree in Business Economics from INCAE, and falsely implies Delgado is a graduate of Universidad Católica del Ecuador.

El Comercio published the reactions [es] of some assembly members to Delgado's resignation.

La República [es] reports that after tendering his resignation, the President's cousin was in Miami by 7:00 am the next day.

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