Mexico breaks off diplomatic ties with Ecuador after embassy stormed in Quito

Mexico has announced the severing of diplomatic ties with Ecuador after the police broke into the Mexican Embassy in Quito to arrest the former Ecuadorian Vice President Jorge Glas who was lodged there.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, published a statement on X, saying, “Police from Ecuador forcibly entered our embassy and detained the former vice president of that country who was a refugee and processing asylum due to the persecution and harassment he faces.”

Me acaba de informar Alicia Bárcena, nuestra secretaria de Relaciones Exteriores que policías de Ecuador entraron por la fuerza a nuestra embajada y se llevaron detenido al exvicepresidente de ese país quien se encontraba refugiado y tramitando asilo por la persecución y el acoso…

— Andrés Manuel (@lopezobrador_) April 6, 2024

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He added that the act is a “flagrant violation of international law and the sovereignty of Mexico.”

Why was Glas in Mexican Embassy?

In December 2023, Glas, who has been convicted twice on corruption charges, sought asylum from Mexico, arguing that he was being persecuted by the attorney general’s office and has been lodged at the Mexican Embassy in the Ecuadorian capital of Quito since.

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The Mexican foreign ministry on Friday granted political asylum to the vice president after Ecuador’s government made Mexico’s ambassador persona non grata amid growing tensions between the two countries.

Ecuador’s presidential communications department said in a statement that Glas, who has been “sentenced to imprisonment by the Ecuadoran justice system, has been arrested tonight and placed under the orders of the competent authorities”.

‘This is crazy’

Reacting to the forced arrest of Glas, Roberto Canseco, head of the Mexican consular section in Quito said, “This is not possible, it cannot be, this is crazy.”

Asked about the situation of former Vice President Glas and if he was apprehended by public forces, he stated: “I understand that yes, I am very worried because they could kill him; there is no basis to do this, this is totally outside the norm.”

What are the charges against the VP?

The ex-Vice President of Ecuador, Glas was released from prison last November after serving time for corruption in a vast scandal involving the Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht.

He faces another arrest warrant for allegedly diverting funds that were intended for reconstruction efforts after a devastating earthquake in 2015.

With inputs from agencies