The diplomatic rift between Mexico and Ecuador widened after police raided the Mexican embassy in Quito. President Andrs Manuel Lpez Obrador announced the suspension of diplomatic ties with Ecuador after Ecuadorian former Vice President Jorge Glas was detained.
Jorge Glas has been seeking political asylum in Ecuador since December, a request granted by Mexico. Glas is facing multiple investigations including corruption and bribery. He was one of the 'most wanted' men in Ecuador.
The police forcibly broke the external doors of the Mexican diplomatic headquarters in the Ecuadorian capital and entered the main patio.
Ecuador is a sovereign nation and we are not going to allow any criminal to stay free, wrote Ecuador's Presidency in a statement Friday night.
Ecuador's presidency accused Mexico of "having abused the immunities and privileges granted to the diplomatic mission that housed the former vice president, and granting diplomatic asylum contrary to the conventional legal framework."
Lpez Obrador called Glas' detention “an authoritarian act and a flagrant violation of international law and the sovereignty of Mexico.”
Meanwhile, Alicia Brcena, Mexico's secretary of foreign relations, added that several diplomats suffered injuries in the incident and said it violated the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
Even experts pointed out the act was a bold violation of the Vienna Conventions on Consular Relations.
This is not possible, it cannot be, this is crazy, said Roberto Canseco, head of the Mexican consular section in Quito, outside the embassy, reported The Associated Press.
While speaking about Glas’s situation and detention, Canseco said “I understand that yes, I am very worried because they could kill him; there is no basis to do this, this is totally outside the norm.”
Heavy police forces were deployed outside the Mexican embassy in Quito on Friday night.
Tensions between both nations escalated after Obrador made statements that Ecuador considered very unfortunate about the last elections in which the Ecuadorian president Daniel Noboa won.
In reaction, the Ecuadorian government declared the Mexican ambassador persona non grata.
Glas was vice president under the leftist government of Rafael Correa between 2013 and 2017.
Earlier, Ecuador had sought permission from Mexico to enter the embassy and arrest Glas, who was sentenced to six years in prison in 2017 after he was found guilty of bribery.
(With PTI inputs)
