Mexico decided to end its relationsdiplomatic relations with Ecuador after police stormed its embassy in Quito, where the former Ecuadorian vice president Jorge Glas had taken refuge, and was arrested and sent to La Roca prison in Guayaquil.
For this reason, Mexican Foreign Minister Alicia Bárcena announced the “immediate severing” of ties, citing a “flagrant violation.” of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. Mexican embassy staff were injured, said.
Alicia Bárcena, our Secretary of Foreign Affairs, has just informed me that 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 persecution and harassment…
— Andrés Manuel (@lopezobrador_) April 6, 2024
Faced with this, the reactions of regional politics have not been long in coming. One of the leaders who have spoken out has been precisely President Gustavo Petro, whowho said through his personal X account that “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. Colombia respects the universal right to political asylum. All my solidarity to the diplomatic staff of Mexico in Quito,” Petro added.
The Vienna convention and Mexico's sovereignty in Ecuador have been broken.
I insist once again 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 barbarism… https://t.co/JgpTyeioLv
— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) April 6, 2024
And it is that The raid occurred hours after Mexico granted political asylum to Glas, who had been in the embassy since December due to an arrest warrant against him from the Ecuadorian authorities. Mexico's Foreign Affairs Ministry had previously said it rejected the increased presence of Ecuadorian police officers outside its embassy and called for its sovereignty to be respected.
Faced with this, the president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, spoke
“This is a flagrant violation of international law and the sovereignty of Mexico, For this reason, I have instructed our Foreign Minister to issue a statement regarding this authoritarian act, proceed legally and immediately declare the suspension of diplomatic relations with the government of Ecuador,” said the Mexican president through his X account.
Glas fled to the embassy last year after chat messages published by Ecuador's Attorney General's Office suggested that a drug trafficker bribed a judge to obtain his early release while serving a sentence for corruption.
Ecuador had declared the Mexican ambassador to the country, Raquel Serur Smeke, “persona non grata” on Thursday. Ecuador's Foreign Ministry said the move was a result of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador's recent and “very unfortunate” comments regarding Ecuador's 2023 elections and the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio.
At the end of 2022, Amlo, as the president is known, expressed his support for the former leader Peruvian Pedro Castillo, granted asylum to his family and said he was the victim of a “coup d'état”. That sparked tensions with Peru's President Dina Boluarte, who took office after Castillo was ousted and arrested for trying to illegally dissolve Congress and govern by decree.
