In a message on X, the Ecuadorian Presidency confirmed that security forces had captured Glas, to whom Mexico had granted asylum on Friday, but Ecuador denied the safe-conduct.
Around 10:30 p.m. (local time), the police and armored broke into the Mexican Embassy.
Roberto Canseco, who was left in charge of the Embassy after Ecuador declared Ambassador Raquel Serur a persona non grata, denounced the aggression and the operation by the public force.
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, the Mexican official told reporters.
“I hit the ground and physically tried to prevent them from entering. Like criminals, they raided the Mexican Embassy in Ecuador,” Canseco said.
Videos circulating on social networks show the police climbing the walls and fences of the diplomatic mission, which had been heavily guarded by the military since early on, at a time of tension between both governments.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador on Friday described the Ecuadorian police’s invasion of his country’s Embassy in Quito as a “flagrant violation of international law” and announced the suspension of diplomatic relations.
Alicia Bárcena, our Secretary of Foreign Affairs, has just informed me that the Ecuadorian police entered our embassy by force and detained the former vice president of that country who had taken refuge and was processing asylum due to the persecution and harassment against him, López Obrador wrote on his X account.
According to the president, “this is a flagrant violation of international law and the sovereignty of Mexico” and for that reason he instructed to proceed “legally and immediately to declare the suspension of diplomatic relations with the Government of Ecuador.”
Mexico’s Secretariat of Foreign Affairs stated that it will appeal to the International Court of Justice to denounce Ecuador for violations of international law.
Mexican Foreign Secretary Alicia Bárcena referred to the raid by the Ecuadorian police on her country’s Embassy in Quito as a “flagrant and serious violation of the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations, in particular of the principle of inviolability of premises and staff.”
Given what happened, in order to capture former Ecuadorian Vice President Jorge Glas, considered a politically persecuted person, Bárcena indicated that Mexico’s diplomatic personnel will immediately leave the South American nation.
“Mexico expects Ecuador to offer the necessary guarantees for the personnel’s withdrawal,” the foreign secretary stressed.
According to the Government of President Daniel Noboa, “since the immunities and privileges granted to the diplomatic mission that housed Jorge Glas were abused and diplomatic asylum was granted contrary to the conventional legal framework, he was captured.”
Glas, considered one of the symbols of “lawfare” in Ecuador, temporarily received the benefit of pre-release on November 28, 2022, after the unification of two prison sentences of six and eight years. However, the measure was revoked.
At the beginning of this year, the justice system ordered his capture for alleged embezzlement in the case called Reconstruction of Manabí, which investigates alleged embezzlement in public works after the 2016 earthquake.
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