President Ivan Duke denied that his government has bought or paid for one of the presidential planes to Ecuador, as his Ecuadorian counterpart, Guillermo Lasso, alludes, although the negotiation for a possible acquisition has begun.
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“Colombia has had conversations with Ecuador about a plane that they have available, but I want to be emphatic on this: no negotiations have been finalized, no plane has been paid for and no plane will be purchased during my government.Duke said in statements to the media.
Lasso assured, on Tuesday morning, that he had sold one of the two presidential planes, the Legacy brazilian embraer, acquired in the administration of President Rafael Correa (2007-2017), to Colombia for a value of 8 million dollars.
The Ecuadorian president said that it was a “transparent” transaction from state to state, but Duque insisted that “we have neither bought nor paid for any plane“and what will be the next government, which will take office on August 7, will have to make that decision.
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The Colombian president stated that the Colombian Air Force (FAC) have “very old planes that are going to go out of operation very soon“, so in last year’s budgets some items had already been foreseen “to make an evaluation and advance negotiations that may allow this substitution to be made at the best prices for Colombia“.
For what is overtaking”the studies, the analyzes so that it is the next government that makes the decision“, as “it is absolutely clear that aircraft that are more than 30 or 40 years old present a risk and that risk will be imminent in 2023“.
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The Ecuadorian Economy Minister, Simón Cueva, informed this Monday of the sale, apparently to the Colombian Air Force, although later the Technical Secretariat of Real Estate Management of the Public Sector (Inmobiliar), the Ecuadorian state office in charge of the negotiation, indicated in a statement that the management of the process continued.
The aircraft in question is a Embraer Legacy EMB-135-BJ, with capacity for 14 passengers, distributed in three cabins with carpets and leather seats, and which also has a kitchen and a luggage room.
The device was purchased from the Brazilian company Embraer by the Government of Ecuador in 2008, during Correa’s mandate, for around 28 million dollars and was then incorporated into FAE for the exclusive use of the president, but Lasso decided to put it up for sale on August 31, 2021, through a decree restricting its use to “exceptional situations“.
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EFE
