Ecuador is the target of a barrage of criticism across Latin America after police burst into the Mexican embassy in Quito to arrest former Ecuadorian vice-president Jorge Glas, accused of corruption. he took refuge there.
Friday's intrusion into the embassy, without recent precedent in the world, led Mexico and Nicaragua to sever diplomatic relations with Ecuador. It has also been condemned by left-wing governments in Latin America, from Brazil to Venezuela, via Chile, and even by the Argentina of ultra-liberal President Javier Milei.
Severance of relations with Mexico
Most of them cited the Vienna Convention, which guarantees the inviolability of embassies. Honduran President Xiomara Castro, who holds the temporary presidency of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), called for an emergency meeting on Monday.
The Organization of American States (OAS) expressed its rejection of “any action that violates or compromises the inviolability of the premises of diplomatic representations.” Images broadcast by local media show the entry of uniformed police officers into the embassy on Friday evening where they arrested Jorge Glas, wanted by the courts, to whom Mexico had just granted asylum.
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Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador denounced a “flagrant violation of international law and the sovereignty of Mexico”, and said he intended to take the case to the International Court of Justice. In the process, Mexico announced the immediate severance of diplomatic relations with Ecuador, followed on Saturday by Nicaragua.
Demonstration in front of the Ecuadorian embassy in Mexico
The Brazilian government condemned the police operation “in the strongest terms”, calling it “a clear violation” of international conventions. The Venezuelan Ministry of Foreign Affairs denounced an “illegal” arrest.
Around fifty people demonstrated on Saturday evening in front of the Ecuadorian embassy in Mexico City, shouting “fascist”, monitored by the police.
The Mexican embassy in Quito was surrounded by police on Saturday and the national flag was removed from its mast in the courtyard of the building, noted an AFP photographer. According to the Mexican government, diplomats and their families will be able to leave the country on commercial flights with the support of “friendly embassies”.
Former Ecuadorian vice president arrested
Jorge Glas, 54, was transferred to a high-security prison in Guayaquil (southwest) on Saturday, according to government sources. “It's totally out of the norm, I'm very worried that they could kill Jorge Glas,” said the head of the Mexican diplomatic mission, Roberto Canseco, on local television, still trembling.
Mexico granted asylum on Friday to Jorge Glas, who had taken refuge in its embassy in Quito since December 17 and was the subject of an arrest warrant for alleged corruption. Quito immediately described this decision as “illegal”, denouncing an “abuse of immunities and privileges” granted to the embassy and interference in its internal affairs. “Jorge Glas was the subject of an enforceable conviction and an arrest warrant issued by the competent authorities,” commented the Ecuadorian Ministry of Communication.
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The granting of asylum to Jorge Glas came the day after Ecuador's decision to expel the Mexican ambassador to Quito, following criticism by the Mexican president over the conduct of the 2023 Ecuadorian presidential election. .
“Even in the worst dictatorships, a country’s embassy has not been violated”
On Wednesday, Lopez Obrador accused the Ecuadorian authorities of having exploited the assassination of opposition candidate Fernando Villavicencio, on August 9, 2023, to favor the election of the liberal Daniel Noboa as president of Ecuador, to the detriment of the left-wing candidate Luisa González.
Fernando Villavicencio was shot dead after a campaign rally in northern Quito a few days before the August 20 election. Seven suspects were arrested for the crime, but were killed in prison. The government of Ecuador, under the yoke of criminal gangs competing for drug trafficking routes, considered these comments offensive.
Former President Rafael Correa, a fugitive sentenced to eight years in prison for corruption, wrote on X that "even in the worst dictatorships, a country's embassy was not violated."