Ecuador president calls Panama insolent over drug boat hassle

 ECUADOREAN President Rafael Correa has branded the government of Panama insolent for remarks made over a vessel under the Panamanian flag caught smuggling cocaine.

The crew are in a jail in Ecuador and the ship is being held while investigations are under way Meanwhile Ecuador is seeking the extradition of a former Ecuador legislator convicted for complicity in mass murders, who is exiled in Panama.

Corea said that Panamanian Foreign Minister, Fernando Nunez Fabrega had said Quito (home of Ecuador’s parliament) is making conditions over the return of the vessel, and said that justice will take its time to solve the case , despite the anger of Panama.
"To say we want to blackmail Panama , that is unacceptable. Ecuador is not a blackmailer country and we feel the statement is totally insolent”, Corea said Thursday at a press conference in Guayaquil.
Correa added that "Panama must understand that here there is a state of law, and they will not scare us, not even to worry over insolent expressions of certain officials who talk of blackmail."
The government said Nunez Fabrega statements about the alleged intention of Quito to link the delivery of the ship with the extradition request for Galo Lara.
The case of the ship is in the hands of the Ecuadorian Prosecutor, which "has every right to take the time necessary" to resolve , and Nunez Fabrega can "say whatever he wants, but we reject these insolent expressions," Correa said.
This week , the government of Ricardo Martinelli confirmed that earlier this month it called its ambassador José Acosta for consultations about Quito 's refusal to return a boat carrying 700 kg of cocaine and its crew, captured in October in international waters.
A year ago, Quito had recalled its ambassador after the hassle over Panama being included in an Ecuadorian list of tax havens, and since then has not resumed its diplomatic functions. Meanwhile the governments discreetly processed their negotiations until Panama raised the pitch over the case of the drug boat say AFP news agency.
The Ecuadorian prosecutors have not yet determined the origin of the ship, although Panama claims thecproperty.
"We respect that the Vice Chancellor of Panama asks for the return of the drug boat. We respect the decision, but I certainly would not have sent the vice chancellor to retrieve a drug ship anywhere in the world," said Ecuador’s Foreign Minister Ricardo Patiño.
The boat is a catamaran type sailboat caught carrying drugs to the United States. In the operation an American, two Colombians , a Nicaraguan and a Panamanian were arrested and are still in prison. The cocaine was burned , according to the Ecuadorian authorities .