CNN
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Mexico has severed diplomatic relations with Ecuador after police raided the Mexican embassy in Quito and arrested former Ecuadorian vice president Jorge Glas.
A Foreign Ministry spokesperson confirmed the move in a statement to CNN, saying all Mexican diplomatic staff will leave Ecuador immediately.
Ecuadorian police raided the Mexican embassy in Quito, Ecuador's capital, on Friday night and made arrests. The former vice president has sought asylum and Mexico has condemned the escalating tensions as an “outrage against international law.”
Video from the scene showed people crowding around the embassy, including armed police officers. Embassies are generally considered protected spaces under diplomatic norms.
The rift between the two Latin American countries has widened since Mexico decided to grant political asylum to Gras, who served as vice president under former leftist President Rafael Correa from 2013 to 2017.
Glass, who has been twice convicted on corruption charges, said he was the subject of political persecution and had been hiding inside the embassy.
But on Friday, Mexican President Andres Manuel López Obrador said on his official X account that he had been informed that “Ecuadorian police forcibly entered the Mexican embassy” and took Mr. Glass away. It's the harassment he faces. ”
The arrest was also confirmed in a statement released by the Ecuadorian government regarding X.
A statement from the Ecuadorian government said Mr. Glass had been “sentenced to imprisonment by the Ecuadorian judicial system” and “was arrested this evening and placed under the command of the competent authorities.” He was granted diplomatic asylum “against the existing legal framework,” the government said.
“What you just witnessed is an outrage against international law and against the inviolability of the Mexican Embassy in Ecuador,” Roberto Canseco, Prime Minister and Director of Policy at the Mexican Embassy, told a CNN reporter. He said the arrest was “totally unacceptable”. ”
“It's barbaric,” Canseco added. “It is impossible for them to violate diplomatic premises as they have done so far.”
Dolores Ochoa/Associated Press
Former Ecuadorian Vice President Jorge Glass speaks during an interview at his office in Quito, September 12, 2017.
A spokesperson for Mexico's foreign secretary added that Mexico plans to file a lawsuit with the International Court of Justice to condemn the actions of Ecuadorian police.
Mexican Foreign Secretary Alicia Bárcena said there was no prior communication with Ecuador's foreign ministry about the arrest and that Canseco was physically assaulted during his arrest.
Adding to the current tensions, President López Obrador has apparently criticized Ecuador's recent elections, saying the 2023 run-off elections were held in a “very strange” manner, and presidential candidates used the media, suggested assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, and violent acts in general. Favor during the campaign.
The rift led to a series of diplomatic provocations this week, including Ecuador's rejection of its ambassador to Mexico, who he declared “persona non grata.”
