US, Canada stance on Ecuador slammed

MEXICO CITY — Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Tuesday accused the governments of the United States and Canada of taking an “ambiguous” stance on Ecuador’s recent raid on Mexico’s embassy in Quito, the capital of Ecuador.

At his daily news conference, Lopez Obrador said Mexico’s main trading partners have not condemned Ecuador’s violation of international law as other countries have.

Mexico will appeal to the International Court of Justice to intercede, he said.

Mexico released security camera video footage on Tuesday of the raid. Lopez Obrador played the footage and said it showed the “authoritarian and vile” way police had raided the embassy.

Ecuadorian police stormed the Mexican embassy in Quito on Friday to arrest former Ecuadorian vice-president Jorge Glas, just hours after Mexico granted him political asylum.

After the assault on the Mexican embassy, Lopez Obrador announced the suspension of diplomatic ties with Ecuador and ordered an indefinite closure of the diplomatic outpost in the Andean country.

Lopez Obrador deemed the police raid on the Mexican embassy a violation of Mexico’s sovereignty and international law, and severed diplomatic relations with Ecuador.

He instructed Mexican Foreign Minister Alicia Barcena to coordinate the return of diplomatic personnel accredited in Ecuador, along with their families, after the “violent attack” on the Mexican embassy.

Glas, 54, was admitted to hospital on Monday after he refused to eat for 24 hours while he was detained at the Guayaquil maximum security prison, officials said.

Glas was taken back to his cell on Tuesday, the SNAI prisons authority reported, after his health recovered to “acceptable parameters”.