Daniel Noboa justifies the arrest of former vice president Jorge Glas

Quito. The president of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, justified today Monday the arrest of former Ecuadorian vice president Jorge Glas, during the police raid on April 5 at the Mexican Embassy in Quito, where the politician was taking refuge to evade charges for several cases of corruption.

“My obligation is to comply with the rulings of justice and we could not allow convicted criminals involved in very serious crimes to be granted asylum,” Noboa said in a message to the international community broadcast on his X account.

He maintained that there was no risk of flight “and making fun of the Ecuadorian people again,” so, in a complex and unprecedented situation, he took “exceptional decisions” to protect national security, the rule of law and dignity. of a people that “rejects any act of impunity for criminals, delinquents, corrupt people or narco-terrorists.”

He stressed that Ecuador is a country of peace and justice that respects all nations and international law, and reiterated to Mexico, whose Government broke diplomatic relations with the country, its willingness to “resolve any difference, but that justice is not negotiated.” , and that we will never protect criminals who have harmed Mexicans.”

Along these lines, the president criticized the reactions of some groups of “expired Ecuadorian politicians” who “have tried to turn it into an ideological struggle, trying to pigeonhole me into an extreme of which I have never been a part.”

He said that they are “risking the country” and that all these criticisms come out at a time when Ecuador is experiencing an “internal armed conflict” against organized crime groups and in the context in which Ecuadorians will vote in a popular consultation on April 21 , in which they will answer 11 questions on security, justice and employment issues.

Glas’s detention in the Mexican embassy occurred after the Government of that country granted him political asylum because it considered him persecuted, a decision that was rejected by the Executive of Ecuador, which described it as an “illicit act.”