"Not even in the worst dictatorships": Rafael Correa spoke about the arrest of his former vice president and said that President Daniel Noboa confuses Ecuador "with one of his banana farms"

The former president of Ecuador

Rafael Correa

assured this Saturday that the current president,

Daniel Noboa

, confuses the country "with one of his banana farms", after the Ecuadorian Government decided to enter the Mexican embassy by force to arrest former vice president Jorge Glas, to whom the Mexican Executive had granted political asylum.

In

a message published on his personal account on the

social

network "It is unprecedented in Latin American history

. "

"

Not even in the worst dictatorships has a country's embassy been violated

. We do not live in a State of law, but in a State of barbarism, with

an improvised that confuses the homeland with one of its banana plantations

," Correa launched in reference to Noboa, whose family owns the largest banana emporium in Ecuador, the world's leading exporter of that fruit.

"We hold Daniel Noboa responsible for the safety and physical and psychological integrity of former Vice President Jorge Glas. To Mexico, its people and its Government, our apologies and eternal admiration. Until victory always!", the former president attacked.

"We are not only facing fascism: we are facing barbarism. Immoral and ignorant government!" he insisted in another message, in which he published a copy of the statement issued by the Ecuadorian Government explaining the official actions surrounding the episode.

🇪🇨🇪🇨🇪🇨

Compatriots:

What the Noboa Government has done is unprecedented in Latin American history.

Not even in the worst dictatorships has a country's embassy been violated.

We do not live in a State of law, but in a State of barbarism, with an improvised system that confuses the Homeland...

— Rafael Correa (@MashiRafael) April 6, 2024

The Ecuadorian government defended its actions in a statement in which it confirmed the arrest of Glas and his placing at the disposal of the judicial authorities.

The text, titled “We defend national sovereignty, zero impunity,” indicated that

“no criminal can be considered politically persecuted”

and added that “by having abused the immunities and privileges of the diplomatic mission that housed Glas and granting asylum diplomacy contrary to the conventional framework, his capture has been carried out.”

To the citizens: pic.twitter.com/KKhTQVbXD8

— Presidency Ecuador 🇪🇨 (@Presidencia_Ec) April 6, 2024

In the midst of the irruption of the troops, the head of the Mexican consular section in Quito Roberto Canseco led a strong struggle in his attempt to prevent them from taking Glas. "It's an outrage, it's against the rules, it can't be," he shouted at the members of the security force as he got up from the floor. "They hit me on the ground, I physically tried to prevent them from entering. Like criminals they raided the Embassy. That is not possible, it cannot be. It is crazy," he denounced.

Gustavo Petro

, president of Colombia, also reacted on his social networks and defended Glas's political asylum: "Colombia respects the universal right to political asylum. All my solidarity with the diplomatic staff of Mexico in Quito."

"The Vienna convention and Mexico's sovereignty in Ecuador have been broken. I once again insist that Latin America and the Caribbean, whatever the social and political constructions in each country, must keep alive the precepts of international law in the midst of the barbarism that advances in the world and the democratic pact within the continent," he added in X.

The former president of Ecuador, Rafael Correa. Photo: EFE

Since 2017,

Glas has been serving two sentences

, one for a bribery case and another related to the Odebrecht case. He was released at the end of November 2022. In addition, he has an open investigation against him for irregularities in the reconstruction tasks of the 2016 earthquake during his administration. He had sought refuge in the Mexican embassy in Quito in December 2023.

Breakdown of relations between Mexico and Ecuador

The president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, announced the formal breaking of diplomatic relations with Ecuador, considering the invasion of the embassy in Quito as a violation of national sovereignty and international law.

The arrest of former Vice President Glas in the Mexican embassy occurred at a time of maximum tension in relations between both countries, after Quito expelled the Mexican ambassador, Raquel Serur, following statements by AMLO about the murder of candidate Fernando Villavicencio. and its effect on the election that allowed Noboa to become president.

Ecuadorian military in front of the Mexican embassy in Quito. Photo: Reuters/Karen Toro.

At the end of February, the Ecuadorian government had requested permission from the Mexican ambassador to enter and detain Glas, when the López Obrador administration had not yet granted him political asylum.

Glas, who was vice president of Ecuador during part of the presidential term of Rafael Correa (2007-2017) and at the beginning of the presidential term of Lenín Moreno (2017-2021), was in the Mexican embassy in Ecuador since the end of December 2023.

He had arrived there after being charged with alleged embezzlement (embezzlement of public funds) in the 'Reconstruction' case of the coastal province of Manabí, after the strong earthquake that occurred in 2016.

Glas spent nearly five years in prison between 2017 and the end of 2022, to serve two sentences for corruption cases of eight and six years in prison, respectively, for the crimes of bribery and illicit association in the irregular financing of the Correísta party and in the framework of the international corruption case of the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht.

In the same sentence for bribery, former President Correa, who has refugee status in Belgium, was also sentenced to eight years in prison and politically disqualified, from where he also denounces political persecution against him and those close to him during his Government.

DP