Photo : Ecuadorian special forces attempt to infiltrate the Mexican embassy in Quito. April 5, 2024
Mexico on Saturday demanded assurances that its diplomatic staff could leave Ecuador safely after authorities stormed its embassy in Quito to arrest former Vice President Jorge Glas, who had been granted political asylum there.
< p>This incident forced Mexico to sever diplomatic relations with the South American country, on the grounds of a “violation of international law,” reports the AFP news agency.
Photos taken by AFP show riot police massed outside the embassy building and how at least one of them climbs its walls, surrounded by police and military.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said authorities had "forcefully entered" into the building to arrest Glas, accused of corruption.
"This is a flagrant violation of international law and the sovereignty of Mexico,"López Obrador said on Platform X.
Mexican Foreign Minister Alicia Bárcena said Mexican embassy staff were injured during the incident and the arrest was a “flagrant violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.”
“Mexico announces the immediate severance of diplomatic relations with Ecuador,” she said on the social media platform X.
She added that Mexican diplomatic personnel would immediately leave the South American country, calling on Quito to “provide the necessary guarantees" to move him.
Earlier in the day, Mexico complained of “harassment” caused by the increased police presence at the embassy in Quito.
Glas, 54, was transferred on Saturday from the detention center where he spent the night, AFP reported. The government said he had been transferred to a high-security prison in the port city of Guayaquil.
Ecuador's former vice president, who served under leftist President Rafael Correa, sought asylum at the Mexican embassy last December after authorities handed him over a warrant for his arrest for alleged corruption.
On Friday, his asylum request was officially granted, angering Quito and deepening a diplomatic dispute between the two Latin American countries.
Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa's government called the move an “illegal act.” Mexico insists it granted Glass political asylum “after careful analysis” situation.
Correa, who has been in exile in Belgium since 2017 and was sentenced in absentia to eight years in prison for corruption, wrote in X that “even under the most brutal dictatorships, embassies were not subject to violence.”< /p>
Glas was released from prison in November after serving time for corruption in a massive scandal involving Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht. He faces another arrest warrant for allegedly diverting funds meant for reconstruction efforts following the devastating 2016 earthquake.
Left-wing governments in Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia, Brazil and Honduras have criticized Ecuadorian security authorities over the with this incident.
Prepared by: Sergey Daga