Mexico cuts diplomatic relations after police storm embassy in Quito
Ecuadorian authorities stormed the Mexican embassy in Quito to arrest former vice-president Jorge Glas, who was taking refuge there, prompting Mexico to sever diplomatic ties after the “violation of international law”.
Images showed police special forces massed outside the embassy and at least one of them scaling its walls, which were ringed by police and military.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said authorities “forcibly entered” the building to arrest Glas.
“This is a flagrant violation of international law and the sovereignty of Mexico,” he said on social media platform X.
Foreign Minister Alicia Barcena wrote on X that “given the flagrant violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and the injuries suffered by Mexican diplomatic personnel in Ecuador, Mexico announces the immediate breaking of diplomatic relations with Ecuador”.
She added that Mexican diplomatic personnel would immediately leave the country.
Glas, who served under leftist president Rafael Correa, sought refuge in the Mexican embassy last December after authorities issued a warrant for his arrest for alleged corruption.
His asylum request was granted on Friday, angering Quito and deepening the dispute between the two Latin American nations. Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa’s government called the move an “illicit act”.
Mexico said it had granted political asylum to Glas “after a thorough analysis” of the situation.
Local media showed Roberto Canseco, head of the Mexican diplomatic mission, running behind vehicles believed to be transporting Glas from the site, shouting: “It’s an outrage!”
Agents prevented Canseco from approaching one of the cars and in the ensuing struggle he is seen falling to the ground.
Ecuador said that according to international conventions, “it is not legal to grant asylum to people convicted or prosecuted for common crimes and by competent ordinary courts”.
Lopez Obrador had irked Quito a day before Mexico granted the asylum request with comments equating political violence in the two countries. He drew a comparison between 2023 election violence in Ecuador, in which a presidential candidate was murdered, and crime in Mexico ahead of the June 2 poll.
Lopez Obrador said violence and “manipulation” by some media caused a drop in the popularity of leftist candidate Luisa Gonzalez and the rise of Noboa.
The Ecuadorian government called his comments offensive and said the country was still in “mourning” for the slain candidate, Fernando Villavicencio, a fierce opponent of corruption.