Quito, Ecuador.- Ecuador has escalated diplomatic tension with Mexico to its maximum. On Friday night, police forcefully entered the Embassy in Quito and captured former Vice President Jorge Glas, who had sought refuge there since mid-December.
Hours earlier, the government of Daniel Noboa had warned Mexico that it would not grant Glas the safe conduct he needs to leave the country as a political asylum seeker.Mexican President Andrés Manuel López has ordered the suspension of diplomatic relations with Ecuador tonight. “This is a flagrant violation of international law and Mexico’s sovereignty,” said the president.
Mexico’s Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Alicia Bárcena, later specified the president’s announcement. “In consultation with President López Obrador, given the flagrant violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and the injuries suffered by Mexican diplomatic personnel in Ecuador, Mexico announces the immediate severance of diplomatic relations with Ecuador,” said Bárcena, and announced that embassy personnel “will leave Ecuador immediately.”
“Mexico will resort to the International Court of Justice to denounce Ecuador’s responsibility for violations of international law,” the foreign minister warned. Article 31 of the Vienna Convention establishes that embassies are national territories and therefore inviolable.
The police deployment around the Mexican diplomatic headquarters had begun during the afternoon.
New armed forces were added during the night, until the assault occurred.Ecuador’s argument is that former Vice President Glas was convicted of common crimes of corruption and must submit to the ordinary justice of his country.In an extensive statement titled “We defend national sovereignty, zero impunity,” Noboa’s government considered that the Mexican Embassy had “abused the immunities and privileges” that correspond to it.
Therefore, it said, “the capture of Jorge Glas has been carried out.” “Ecuador is a sovereign country and we will not allow any criminal to go unpunished,” added the government in the statement.
