The United States on Thursday rejected the Ecuador's accusation on an American diplomat, hinting to reconsider the relationship with the Latin American country.
"The decision by the government of Ecuador to expel a second American diplomat is very troubling and raises serious concerns about Ecuador's desire to maintain a productive relationship," said State Department Deputy Spokesman Gordon Duguid.
The Ecuadorian government expelled on Wednesday a second U.S. diplomat in this month over "unacceptable meddling" police officer appointments in programs receiving U.S. aid, Xinhua reported.
"We are declaring Mr. Mark Sullivan persona-non-grata, he is the first secretary of the embassy and we are giving him 48 hours to leave the country," said Foreign Affairs Minister Fander Falconi.
On Feb. 7, the Ecuadorian government ordered the expulsion of the embassy's attache Armando Astorga for a similar reason.
"The United States rejects any suggestion of wrongdoing by embassy staff," said Duguid.
"Our embassy personnel have acted with the utmost respect for Ecuador's sovereignty. Our programs have been administered in a transparent and accountable fashion with the full cooperation of Ecuador's senior officials," said Duguid.
The U.S.-Ecuador relationship has been in tense since President Rafael Correa, who has some 70 percent popularity in Ecuador, rejected to renew a lease ending this year on a coastal air base used by U.S. troops.
Correa is widely viewed as one of the left-winger leaders in Latin America, as well as Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and Bolivia's Evo Morales. Venezuela and Bolivia both expelled U.S. ambassadors last year.
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