Ecuador declares the Mexican ambassador persona non grata after statements by López Obrador

The Government of Daniel Noboa has declared this Thursday the ambassador of Mexico, Raquel Serur, persona non grata, in response to the statements of the president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, in which he suggests that Noboa won the elections thanks to the murder of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, a death plotted by organized crime. “It is a measure provided for by the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and that implies that the ambassador must leave the country within a short period of time. It does not mean breaking diplomatic relations,” the Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

López Obrador made these strong statements in his daily press conference early in the morning: “There were elections in Ecuador, the candidate of the progressive forces was, about 10 points up…”. He was referring to Luisa González, candidate of the Citizen Revolution, whose leader is Rafael Correa, who has shown political affinity with the president of Mexico. “So, a candidate who speaks badly about the candidate who is at the top is suddenly assassinated, and the candidate who was at the top falls, and the candidate who was in second rises,” López Obrador continued.

“Creating a rarefied atmosphere of violence, to the extent that the candidates — and this is reported by all the media — wear vests to the debates. But everything armed. Well, the candidate did not win and the most unfortunate thing is that the violence continues, that they just used the moment,” said the president.

The Government of Ecuador has responded forcefully on April 4: “Ecuador is still grieving for that unfortunate event that caused shock in Ecuadorian society and threatened democracy, peace and security.”

The diplomatic

between both countries occurs a month after Ecuador asked the Government of Mexico to enter the diplomatic house in Quito to capture former vice president Jorge Glas, who has taken refuge in the Mexican Embassy since December 17 to avoid prison for two sentences for corruption during the government of Rafael Correa, and another ongoing process being investigated by the Ecuadorian Prosecutor's Office. But Mexico did not authorize the entry of the Police to arrest Glas. Mexican Foreign Minister Alicia Bárcena said that “that would violate the diplomatic immunity of our embassies.” In addition, he assured that he is analyzing Glas' asylum request, "we have not granted it to him, but we have not denied it either," and that he is investigating "how much Jorge Glas's case is a political persecution, how much it is a legal and corruption,” published the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mexico.

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