Mexico cuts ties with Ecuador after police raid embassy

Mexico’s government ended diplomatic ties with Ecuador after police broke into the Mexican Embassy late Friday to arrest a former Ecuadorian vicepresident, an extraordinary use of force that shocked and mystified regional leaders and diplomats.

Ecuadorian police broke through the external doors of the embassy in the capital, Quito, to arrest Jorge Glas, who had been residing there since December. Glas sought political asylum at the embassy after being indicted on corruption charges.

The raid prompted Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to announce the breaking of diplomatic relations with Ecuador Friday evening, while his government’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 local press while standing outside the embassy right after the raid. “I am very worried because they could kill him. There is no basis to do this. This is totally outside the norm.”

On Saturday, Glas was taken by armoured vehicle from the attorney general’s office to an airport, where he boarded an aircraft for a flight to the port city of Guayaquil, 425 kilometres south of Quito. People who had gathered outside the prosecutor’s office yelled “strength” as the convoy of police and military vehicles moved off.

Ecuador’s corrections agency said Glas will remain in custody at a facility in Guayaquil.

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 also convicted on bribery and corruption charges.

The office of Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa defended the raid in a statement, saying “Ecuador is a sovereign nation” that will not “allow any criminal to stay free.” López Obrador fired back, calling Glas’ detention an “authoritarian act” and “a flagrant violation of international law and the sovereignty of Mexico.”

Police stormed the embassy in Quito to arrest Jorge Glas, who sought political asylum after being indicted on corruption charges