Mexico severed diplomatic ties with Ecuador after police stormed its embassy in Quito and arrested former Ecuadorian Vice President Jorge Glas, who had sought asylum there.
A spokesman for Mexico’s foreign ministry declared that all its diplomats would depart Ecuador immediately, as the country’s authorities denounced the raid as “an outrage against international law.”
International law decrees that a country is not allowed to trespass into an embassy’s territory which is regarded as the sovereign territory of the nation it represents. While Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa’s administration claimed that Glas’s asylum protections were unlawful due to the corruption charges he is facing, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador denounced the unprecedented diplomatic incursion and arrest as an “authoritarian” act and a violation of Mexico’s sovereignty.
Mexico had decided to provide political shelter to Glas, vice president under socialist former President Rafael Correa from 2013 to 2017, after days of escalating tension between the two Latin American nations. Glas claims he is being persecuted for his political beliefs and has been taking refuge within the embassy despite having been found guilty twice on corruption charges. Most recently, he was charged by Ecuadorian authorities with embezzling public funds intended for reconstruction following a severe earthquake in 2016.
According to the government of Ecuador, Glas was “sentenced to imprisonment by the Ecuadorian justice system” and was “arrested tonight and placed under the orders of the competent authorities.” According to the administration, he was given diplomatic shelter “contrary to the conventional legal framework.” The former PM has been sent to La Roca, a maximum-security jail in Guayaquil, the national prisons service SNAI said on Saturday.
Ecuador’s foreign minister, Gabriela Sommerfeld, stated during a press conference on Saturday that the decision to storm the Mexican embassy and take Glas into custody was decided “in the face of a real risk of imminent escape.” She also blamed Mexico for breaking the non-intervention principle by allowing Glas to remain in the embassy and avoid an order to appear before authorities in connection with a corruption investigation.
Mexico’s foreign secretary, however, stated that the country intends to file a complaint against the Ecuadorian police’s activities with the International Court of Justice.
A statement released on Saturday stated that UN Secretary-General António Guterres was “alarmed” by the event and that the “violations jeopardize the pursuit of normal international relations.” Guterres also reiterated “the cardinal principle of the inviolability of diplomatic and consular premises and personnel,” according to his spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric.
Latin American governments have similarly united in support of Mexico as well. A few hours after the arrest of Glas, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela all censured Ecuador, and Nicaragua followed suit, cutting diplomatic ties with Quito.
