BRUSSELS – Rafael Correa, the president of Ecuador, has himself now reprimanded Belgian politicians for the country’s immigration policy in the case of 11-year-old Angelica.

“If you, my Belgian friends, are required someday to leave your country, you will be welcomed in Ecuador as our brothers. For us there is no such thing as illegal people,” Corea said.

The Ecuadorian president says it is lamentable that the Belgian state has abused its power against two Ecuadorians, Ana Cajamarca and her 11-year-old daughter Angelica. “They spent a month in a prison in Brussels after they were living illegally in Belgium for four years,” the president said.

Anne Malherbe, the Belgian wife of President Correa, said last week that the Belgian immigration policy is hypocritical and that the country uses Gestapo practices. Belgian Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht called the ambassador from Ecuador to account on Friday.

A decision on the fate of Angelica and her mother has been postponed to 18 September.

[Copyright Expatica News 2007]

Subject: Belgian news