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QUITO, Oct. 24-- Ecuador's Foreign Minister Jose Valencia said on Wednesday it will be difficult, in the short-term, to regain the level of diplomatic relations it had with Venezuela, following the occurrences of Oct. 18. "The truth is that I don't know how this can be fixed in the future," Valencia said to local television station Teleamazonas, when asked if measures were already being taken to fix the relationship. On Oct. 19, Valencia said that relations between the two countries "were currently at a fairly low level." The diplomatic impasse between the two countries arose after Venezuelan Minister of Communication and information Jorge Rodriguez made comments about Ecuador's President Lenin Moreno, which the Ecuadorian government considered as "offensive." Rodriguez questioned the figures in Moreno's speech about the number of Venezuelans fleeing their country and entering Ecuador during his speech at the UN's General Assembly on Sept. 25. As a result, Ecuador expelled Venezuelan ambassador Carol Delgado from the country and declared her "persona non grata." In retaliation, Venezuela expelled Ecuador's charge d'affaires in Caracas Elizabeth Mendez and also declaring her "persona non grata." Mendez had been in charge of Ecuador's embassy in Venezuela since Aug. 4, 2017 when its ambassador resigned and Ecuador did not send a replacement. Valencia said that regardless of the diplomatic issues, the attention given to the Venezuelan migrants in their territory will continue as normal. | 
