United States ambassador Heather Hodges was removed by the administration of Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa on the 4th of April, 2011.

A leak revealed by Wikileaks reportedly revealed that a State Department cable implied that Correa appointed a General, Jaime Hurtado, despite having knowledge that Jaime had “used his positions to extort bribes, facilitate human trafficking, misappropriate public funds, obstruct investigations and prosecutions of corrupt colleagues, and engage in other corrupt acts for personal enrichment.”

Trying to save face over the incident, the notoriously authoritarian Correa declared the United States ambassador persona non grata and no longer welcome in the country.