Mexican president releases footage of ‘despicable’ raid on embassy in Ecuador
The Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has condemned what he described as a “despicable authoritarian” assault on his country’s embassy in Quito and released dramatic images showing Ecuadorian security forces dragging the country’s former vice-president from the building.
Jorge Glas, Ecuador’s vice-president from 2013 until 2018, sought shelter at the Mexican mission in December claiming he was suffering political persecution. But the 54-year-old politician was arrested there on Friday after Ecuador’s president, Daniel Noboa, took the extraordinary step of ordering a raid on the embassy.
On Tuesday, Mexican authorities released footage from security cameras laying bare the drama of the late-night assault.
In the images black-clad police operatives can be seen swarming into Mexico’s supposedly protected diplomatic headquarters after several armed agents scaled the outer wall.
Inside, officers can be seen pointing a gun towards the deputy chief of mission, Roberto Canseco, and then grappling with the Mexican diplomat as he stands in the library.
Soon after, at 10.15pm, a police officer with a riot shield pushes Canseco out of the way as Glas is hauled out of the building by four operatives. Canseco is wrestled to the floor and again manhandled outside the building as Glas is driven away.
“Mexico demands respect,” López Obrador told his daily morning press conference as the images were made public.
The embassy invasion – widely seen as a violation of international law protecting diplomatic installations – caused a major political storm and drew condemnation from both Latin America’s left and right, as well as governments in Europe and North America. Chile’s president, Gabriel Boric, condemned an “unacceptable infringement” of Mexican sovereignty.
The UN secretary general, António Guterres, voiced alarm.
On Saturday, a spokesperson for the US state department said it condemned “any violation of the Vienna convention on diplomatic relations, and takes very seriously the obligation of host countries under international law to respect the inviolability of diplomatic missions”.
But López Obrador, who is widely known as Amlo, criticised what he called the “noncommittal” US reaction to Ecuador’s “authoritarian act”, noting that Joe Biden had not spoken out himself.
Mexico’s foreign ministry said it was releasing the footage in order to denounce Ecuador’s “unauthorized and violent break-in” and “the abuses suffered by our diplomatic staff” to the world.
“The world witnessed the violence, abuse and mistreatment of our Mexican personnel at the hands of the Ecuadorian police, and the violation of the immunity of our embassy in Ecuador,” the ministry tweeted, vowing: “Mexico will bring these violations of international law to the international courts and tribunals with the support of friendly countries.”
On Monday, as Glas was taken to
hospital from the maximum security prison where he was being held, Noboa sought to defend his decision. The 36year-old leader – who has vowed to stem a tide of drug-related violence and in January declared Ecuador in a state of “armed internal conflict” – claimed he had taken “exceptional decisions in order to protect national security”.