QUITO/Xinhua
The Foreign Ministry of Ecuador reported today, Friday, that it is awaiting official notification from the Government of Mexico regarding the political asylum it decided to grant to the former Ecuadorian vice president, Jorge Glas, who since last December has taken refuge in the Mexican embassy in the Andean country to evade charges for alleged embezzlement.
The Foreign Ministry expressed in a statement its rejection of this decision, pointing out that “the granting of asylum, in this case, constitutes an illicit act of the State that grants it,” furthermore, “it supports an evasion of the justice of the Ecuadorian State and promotes the impunity”.
The statement arises in response to a previous official note issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mexico in which it was reported that the Government of that country decided to grant political asylum to Glas, “after an exhaustive analysis of the information received.” ».
The Secretariat said that such decision will be officially communicated to the Ecuadorian authorities, along with the request that they grant the respective safe passage, in accordance with the 1954 Diplomatic Asylum Convention, an international treaty to which Mexico and Ecuador are party states.
In this regard, the Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry stated that it timely sent to the Mexican embassy in the city of Quito the information provided by the National Court of Justice and the State Attorney General’s Office on the convictions handed down against former Vice President Glas, for the crimes of illicit association and bribery.
Information was also provided about the arrest warrant issued against him by the National Court of Justice in a case for the crime of embezzlement.
The Foreign Ministry added that Ecuador and Mexico are Parties to the 1933 Convention on Political Asylum and the 1954 Convention on Diplomatic Asylum.
However, he reiterated “that diplomatic asylum cannot be granted” to Glas, under the provisions of Article III of the 1954 Convention on Diplomatic Asylum and Article 1 of the 1933 Convention on Political Asylum.
He specified that these articles “clearly establish that it is not lawful to grant asylum to people convicted or prosecuted for common crimes and by competent ordinary courts.”
Former Vice President Glas (2013-2018) has taken refuge in the Mexican Embassy in Quito since last December 17, after the State Attorney General’s Office ordered his location and arrest as part of an investigation for alleged embezzlement.
Glas, sentenced to six and eight years in prison in two cases for corruption, left prison number 4 in Quito, where he was being held, on November 28, 2022, after a judge granted him a precautionary measure in his favor.
He is also subject to a preventive detention order for a case related to the diversion of public funds.
Mexico’s decision to grant political asylum to Glas comes a day after the Ecuadorian government declared the Mexican ambassador to Ecuador, Raquel Serur, “persona non grata,” in response to recent “very unfortunate” statements by the Mexican president. Andrés Manuel López Obrador, according to the Foreign Ministry of the South American country.
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