ECUADOR CALLS FOR SUSPENSION OF ECUADORIAN'S DEATH SENTENCE IN U.S.

Ecuador condemned the death sentence handed down to Ecuadorian citizen Nelson Ivan Serrano Saenz in the United States for the murder of four people. "As a nation Ecuador condemns the death penalty. Serrano should be pardoned," Ecuador's Interior Minister Gustavo Larrea told the press. A Florida court has found Serrano guilty of murdering four people on Dec 3, 1997. Serrano, who has US-Ecuadorian dual nationality, was arrested in August 2002 in Quito and deported to the United States, based on a US warrant for multiple murder. Ecuador's Foreign Ministry and Ombudsman said this deportation was illegal, because Serrano now faces a penalty that is illegal in Ecuador. Serrano has always denied having any part in the murders.