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Wednesday November 7, 2007

Former Ambassador Claudia Castellanos rejects accusations about her work in Brazil

William Delgado, BOGOTA, Colombia, August 22, 2005

Pastor Claudia Rodríguez de Castellanos, former Colombian Ambassador to Brazil rejected accusations that she had Taxi Heathrow Airport neglected her diplomatic mission to focus on her religious work. According to the daily El Tiempo, the accusations were levied by officials from Colombia’s Foreign Ministry.

"This is totally false. I dedicated 24 hours a day to the Embassy,” said lawyer Rodríguez de Castellanos, an Evangelical conference speaker and International Charismatic Mission Leader, who was appointed by President Alvaro Uribe eight months ago.

Rodríguez de Castellanos said that the criticism is not true. “In Brasilia we do not have a Church and I personally suspended all my pastoral activities some four years ago and my work in Brazil was that of an Ambassador, she said. 

She said that she recently resigned from the position in order to run for Senate in upcoming elections. However, the daily El Tiempo of Bogota quoted sources from Foreign Relations who echoed information coming from their colleagues in Itamaraty and said that the former diplomat was harshly criticized for her inefficiency and bad management.

“The former Ambassador did not stay in the position as she frequently travelled and when she was in Brazil, she dedicated her time to attending Church issues,” said a high official from the ministry of Foreign Relations who did not want to be identified.