Ex-Ecuador VP to get IV fluids after weeks on hunger strike

QUITO, Ecuador – Medical workers were evaluating a former Ecuadorian vice-president convicted in Latin America’s biggest graft scandal following a health scare after more than two weeks on a hunger strike, authorities said late Tuesday.

Ecuador’s government announced that Jorge Glas is stable but will be transported to a medical facility where he can receive intravenous fluids and electrolytes.

Former Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa stated earlier on Twitter that Glas’ health had declined.

Glas declared a hunger strike in October to protest his transfer to a high-security prison. A non-profit human rights group that recently visited the ex-vice-president noted that his health was deteriorating but that he’d refused hospitalization.

Glas was sentenced to six years in 2017 after his conviction on charges he orchestrated a plot to receive millions in bribes from Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht. He claims the charges against him amounted to a political persecution.