QUITO: Mexico’s govt severed diplomatic ties with Ecuador after police broke into the Mexican Embassy to arrest a former Ecuadorian vice president, an extraordinary use of force that shocked and mystified regional leaders and diplomats.
Ecuadorian police late Friday broke through the external doors of the embassy in the capital, Quito, to arrest Jorge Glas, who had been residing there since Dec.Glas sought political asylum at the embassy after being indicted on corruption charges. The raid prompted Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to announce the breaking off of diplomatic relations with Ecuador, while his govt’s foreign relations secretary said the move will be challenged at the World Court in The Hague. “This is not possible. It cannot be. This is crazy,” Roberto Canseco, head of the Mexican consular section in Quito, told press after the raid.
On Saturday, Glas was taken from the attorney general’s office in Quito to the port city of Guayaquil, where he will remain in custody at a maximum-security prison. Glas’ attorney, Sonia Vera, said that officers broke into his room and he resisted when they attempted to put his hands behind his back. She said the officers then “knocked him to the floor, kicked him in the head, in the spine, in the legs, the hands,” and when he “couldn’t walk, they dragged him out”. Authorities are investigating Glas over alleged irregularities during his management of reconstruction efforts following a powerful earthquake in 2016 that killed hundreds of people. He was convicted on bribery and corruption charges in other cases.
Ecuador’s foreign minister Gabriela Sommerfeld on Saturday told reporters that the decision to enter the embassy was made by President Daniel Noboa after considering Glas’ “imminent flight risk” and exhausting all possibilities for diplomatic dialogue with Mexico.
Mexico had granted Glas asylum hours before the raid. Alicia Barcena, Mexico’s secretary of foreign relations, on Friday posted on X that a number of diplomats suffered injuries during the break-in, which she said violated the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
The break-in was condemned by presidents, diplomats and a regional body. US state department spokesman Matthew Miller said that “the US condemns any violation of the Vienna Convention.” Honduran President Xiomara Castro characterised the raid as a “violation of the sovereignty of the Mexican state”. The Organization of American States in a statement reminded its members, which include Ecuador and Mexico, of their obligation not to “invoke norms of domestic law to justify non-compliance with their international obligations.” The Mexican embassy in Quito remained under heavy police guard after the raid.
Ecuadorian police late Friday broke through the external doors of the embassy in the capital, Quito, to arrest Jorge Glas, who had been residing there since Dec.Glas sought political asylum at the embassy after being indicted on corruption charges. The raid prompted Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to announce the breaking off of diplomatic relations with Ecuador, while his govt’s foreign relations secretary said the move will be challenged at the World Court in The Hague. “This is not possible. It cannot be. This is crazy,” Roberto Canseco, head of the Mexican consular section in Quito, told press after the raid.
On Saturday, Glas was taken from the attorney general’s office in Quito to the port city of Guayaquil, where he will remain in custody at a maximum-security prison. Glas’ attorney, Sonia Vera, said that officers broke into his room and he resisted when they attempted to put his hands behind his back. She said the officers then “knocked him to the floor, kicked him in the head, in the spine, in the legs, the hands,” and when he “couldn’t walk, they dragged him out”. Authorities are investigating Glas over alleged irregularities during his management of reconstruction efforts following a powerful earthquake in 2016 that killed hundreds of people. He was convicted on bribery and corruption charges in other cases.
Ecuador’s foreign minister Gabriela Sommerfeld on Saturday told reporters that the decision to enter the embassy was made by President Daniel Noboa after considering Glas’ “imminent flight risk” and exhausting all possibilities for diplomatic dialogue with Mexico.
Mexico had granted Glas asylum hours before the raid. Alicia Barcena, Mexico’s secretary of foreign relations, on Friday posted on X that a number of diplomats suffered injuries during the break-in, which she said violated the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
The break-in was condemned by presidents, diplomats and a regional body. US state department spokesman Matthew Miller said that “the US condemns any violation of the Vienna Convention.” Honduran President Xiomara Castro characterised the raid as a “violation of the sovereignty of the Mexican state”. The Organization of American States in a statement reminded its members, which include Ecuador and Mexico, of their obligation not to “invoke norms of domestic law to justify non-compliance with their international obligations.” The Mexican embassy in Quito remained under heavy police guard after the raid.