The Mexican government ended diplomatic relations with Ecuador after police broke into the Mexican embassy late Friday night to arrest a former Ecuadorian vice president, an extraordinary use of force that shocked and bewildered regional leaders and diplomats.
Ecuadorian police broke through the outer door of the embassy in the capital Quito and arrested Jorge Glas, who has lived there since December.Glass sought political asylum from the embassy after the incident Indicted on corruption charges.
The raid prompted Mexican President Andres Manuel López Obrador to announce on Friday evening that he was severing diplomatic ties with Ecuador, while the Mexican government’s foreign relations minister said the move would be challenged at the World Court in The Hague. .
“It’s impossible. It’s crazy,” Roberto Canseco, head of Mexico’s consular department in Quito, told local media while standing outside the embassy after the raid. “I’m very worried because they could kill He. There is no basis for doing this. It is completely inconsistent with the norm.”
On Saturday, Glass was taken by armored vehicle from the attorney general’s office to the airport, where he boarded a plane to Guayaquil, a port city 265 miles (425 kilometers) south of Quito. People gathered outside the prosecutor’s office shouted “strength” as a convoy of police and military vehicles set off.
Ecuador’s correctional service said Glass will remain incarcerated at a maximum-security facility in Guayaquil.
Authorities are investigating Glass for alleged irregularities in the management of the reconstruction effort. Strong earthquake in 2016 Caused hundreds of deaths.he is Convicted on bribery and corruption charges in other cases.
Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa’s office defended the attack in a statement, saying “Ecuador is a sovereign country” and will not “allow any criminal to go unpunished.” López Obrador fired back, calling Glass’s detention a “dictatorial act” that “flagrantly violates international law and Mexico’s sovereignty.”
Mexican Foreign Minister Alicia Bárcena posted on the social platform X that several diplomats were injured in the break-in, adding that the move violated the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
Under the Treaty of Vienna, diplomatic premises are considered “inviolable” and cannot be entered by local law enforcement agencies without the permission of the ambassador.Asylum seekers live from days to years in embassies around the world, including the Ecuadorian embassy in London, which houses WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange seven years Because the British police couldn’t get in to arrest him.
The decision by Ecuadorian authorities was condemned on Saturday by the president, diplomats and a regional body.
Honduran President Chiomara Castro, writing in Right of asylum”.
In a statement, the OAS reminded member states, including Ecuador and Mexico, that they have an “obligation” not to “cite norms of domestic law to justify non-compliance with their international obligations.”
“In this context, it (the Organization of American States) expresses its solidarity with the victims of the misconduct affecting the Mexican Embassy in Ecuador,” said a statement released on Saturday. The organization added that it considered it “necessary to convene a permanent Council meeting to resolve this issue,” but no date has been set.
Bárcena said on Friday that Mexico would take the case to the International Court of Justice “to condemn Ecuador’s responsibility for violating international law.” She also said Mexican diplomats were simply waiting for the Ecuadorian government to provide the necessary guarantees for their return.
Noboa became Ecuador’s president last year while the country was in the midst of fighting Unprecedented drug-related crimes. In January, after a group of armed men attacked a TV station during a live broadcast, he declared that the country was in an “internal armed conflict” and designated 20 drug cartel As terrorist organizations, the military has the right to “annihilate” these terrorist organizations within the scope of international humanitarian law.
Will Freeman, a Latin American studies fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, said the decision to send police to the Mexican embassy raised concerns about the steps Noboa is willing to take to win re-election. His term ends in 2025 Because he was elected only to complete the term of former President Guillermo Lasso.
“I really hope Noboa doesn’t tilt in Bukele’s direction,” Freeman said of El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele. Tough on crime policy It was severely criticized by human rights groups. “That is, in order to boost his approval ratings before the election, he has less respect for the rule of law.”
Freeman added that whether Glass abused diplomatic protection was a “separate question” from the decision to send police to the embassy.
“We see this pattern in Latin America where politicians abuse embassies and foreign jurisdictions not to avoid prosecution but to avoid accountability,” he said.
Ecuador’s foreign and interior ministries did not respond to repeated requests for comment from The Associated Press.
Former Ecuadorian ambassador Jorge Icasa told The Associated Press that the raid was illegal, but added that it was also illegal to protect “a criminal who has been punished by the Ecuadorian justice system in two major cases,” from From a perspective, this is also a negative international norm.”
The Mexican embassy in Quito remains under heavy security following the attack, the latest boiling point in tensions between Mexico and Ecuador.
Thursday, intense situation Tensions escalate after López Obrador makes statement Ecuador considers ‘very unfortunate’ last year’s election.The Ecuadorian government responded Declaring the Mexican Ambassador persona non grata.
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