Mexico announced Friday evening “ immediate breakup » of its diplomatic relations with Ecuador, after Ecuadorian police officers burst into the Mexican embassy to arrest former vice-president Jorge Glas who had taken refuge there.
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On social networks, photos and videos show the Ecuadorian police forcing the doors of the Mexican embassy in Quito to arrest former vice-president Jorge Glass who had just obtained political asylum there, reports our correspondent in Ecuador, Eric Samson. In the images, the Mexican charge d’affaires protests against the intrusion of the police officers who treat him unceremoniously. It is in the name of the fight against impunity that Ecuador justified the violation of a sacrosanct diplomatic principle: the inviolability of an embassy.
The former Ecuadorian vice-president, Jorge Glass, who has taken refuge in the Mexican embassy since December 17, was the subject of an arrest warrant in connection with possible embezzlement during the reconstruction of the province of Manabi after the 2016 earthquake.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador called the intervention “ flagrant violation of international law and the sovereignty of Mexico “, in a message on the social network Mexico announces immediate severance of diplomatic relations with Ecuador », wrote Foreign Minister Alicia Bárcena shortly after, also on injuries suffered by Mexican diplomatic personnel » during the intervention in his embassy.
Escalation
The Ecuadorian government announced on Friday that “ Jorge Glas Espinel, sentenced to a prison term by Ecuadorian justice, was arrested this evening and placed under the orders of the competent authorities », In a press release from the Ministry of Communication. “ Each embassy has a unique objective: to serve as a diplomatic space with the aim of strengthening relations between countries “, explained the Ecuadorian Ministry of Communication, adding that “ no criminal can be considered a politically persecuted person “.
After the expulsion in recent hours of the Mexican ambassador declared persona non grata, this intrusion into the embassy premises could only aggravate the crisis between the two countries. On Thursday, President Daniel Noboa had very little appreciation for the comments of the Mexican president who seemed to indicate that the assassination of candidate Fernando Villavicencio last August had been organized to lose the left-wing presidential candidate of the party of former president Rafael Correa.