The president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), broke the diplomatic ties of the Aztec country with Ecuador after its authorities forcibly entered the Mexican embassy in Quito on the night of this Friday, April 5, this to arrest to former vice president Jorge Glas, who had been taking refuge in the headquarters since last December to evade corruption charges against him.
Glas was one of the most powerful politicians in Ecuador during the 10 years that he governed the Citizen Revolution, the left-wing socialist movement led by Rafael Correa. Correismo even considered him as a candidate for last year’s presidential elections, which the current president, Daniel Noboa, won.
During these hours, Glas was to receive safe passage to fly to Mexico City, but instead, Noboa ordered his immediate capture. With armored cars and masked agents, the Ecuadorian authorities entered the Mexican Embassy in Quito during the night of Friday, breaking the bars and shaking one of the Mexican diplomats who was trying to prevent the violation of the Aztec consular space.
#Internationals | The National Police of Quito entered the Mexican Embassy with armored cars. The Mexican ambassador stationed in Ecuador clashed with the uniformed officers.
Video: Courtesy.
— Breaking News (@ultimahsv) April 6, 2024
According to the Mexican media The countryit was the head of the Foreign Ministry and Political Affairs of the Embassy, Roberto Canseco, who tried unsuccessfully to arrest the agents.
“At the risk of my life I defended the honor and sovereignty of my country. This cannot be, it is incredible that something like this has happened. I’m very worried that they might kill him. [a Glas]. There is no basis for doing this. We were about to leave and suddenly we ran into police, thieves who entered the Embassy at night,” he declared to the press.
#Urgent Police and military forcefully entered the embassy of #Mexico in #Ecuador. Roberto Canseco, head of the Foreign Ministry “At the risk of my life, I defended the honor and sovereignty of my country,” said
Video circulating on networks. pic.twitter.com/NRbMF2hAWK— Paola Pérez (@PaolaPteleSUR) April 6, 2024
The agents ended up taking Glas aboard a black van with tinted windows. Later, he was transferred to the maximum security prison of La Roca, in Guayaquil.
After what happened, the president of Mexico issued a statement in which he ended political relations with Ecuador.
“This is a flagrant violation of international law and the sovereignty of Mexico, which is why I have instructed our chancellor to issue a statement regarding this authoritarian act, proceed legally and immediately declare the suspension of diplomatic relations with the government.” from Ecuador,” AMLO indicated on Twitter.
Alicia Bárcena, our Secretary of Foreign Affairs, has just informed me that police from Ecuador forcibly entered our embassy and detained the former vice president of that country who was a refugee and processing asylum due to persecution and harassment…
— Andrés Manuel (@lopezobrador_) April 6, 2024
Glas was taking refuge in the Mexican Embassy in Ecuador to avoid being sent to prison again, since he has two sentences for corruption of which he has already served five years. In this regard, he and former President Correa assure that this is a political persecution carried out by the opposition that came to power last year. At the moment, Correa is a refugee in Belgium due to another pending sentence against him.
The tension between both countries accelerated this week after the Noboa Government declared the Mexican ambassador, Raquel Serur, persona non grata, and ordered her expulsion from the territory.
This decision was made in response to a controversial statement made by AMLO in which he suggested that the assassination of Ecuadorian candidate Fernando Villavicencio had helped Noboa come to power in 2023.
After Serur’s expulsion, Mexico granted political asylum status to Glas, which was described by the Ecuadorian president as an illegal action, which left him no choice but to force his way into the Aztec embassy.
In addition to the two charges of corruption against him, Glas is currently being investigated for an alleged crime of theft from the public treasury, which is why the government of Ecuador considered it vitally important that he not leave the country.
#Mexico #breaks #relations #Ecuador #raid #embassy
