In Ecuador, police arrested former vice president Jorge Glas at the Mexican embassy, sparking a diplomatic crisis.
Ecuadorian military on Friday night in front of the Mexican embassy in Quito Photo: Karen Toro/Reuters
BOGOTA taz | After police stormed the Mexican embassy in Ecuador and arrested former Ecuadorian vice president Jorge Glas, who had fled there, UN Secretary General António Guterrez criticized the government in Quito. He appeared “alarmed”, stressed the importance of the inviolability of diplomatic missions and at the same time called on Ecuador and Mexico to show restraint.
Mexico condemned the action as a “flagrant violation of international law” and severed diplomatic relations with Ecuador. According to the Vienna Convention, the jurisdiction of the host country does not apply to the premises of an embassy, but rather that of the country it represents. That's why Wikileaks founder Julian Assange was able to stay in the Ecuadorian embassy in London for years despite all the US extradition requests.
Mexican Foreign Minister Alicia Bárcena said Saturday that embassy staff were also injured in the attack in Quito. Mexico will present a lawsuit before the International Court of Justice for “serious violations of international law.” Ecuador had asked Mexico for permission to enter the building. When this was refused, police officers stormed the performance and took away the crystals.
On Saturday, Nicaragua also broke its relations with Ecuador. Managua justified it with the “unusual and reprehensible” act of breaking into the embassy of another country. Bold words from dictator Daniel Ortega, who in 2021 had the offices of the Organization of American States (OAS) occupied and confiscated there and finally expelled all employees from the country.
The detainee has since been transferred to a maximum security prison in Guayaquil. As vice president from 2013 to 2017, he was a close confidant of Ecuador's then-leftist president, Rafael Correa. Glas was later sentenced to a total of eight years in prison for corruption.. He got rich from the scandal surrounding construction giant Odebrecht and money for earthquake relief. Glas, for his part, claims that he is being politically persecuted.
Correa was also sentenced in absentia to eight years in prison for corruption in 2020, but fled to Belgium, his wife's country of origin, in 2017. He has had political asylum there since 2022.
In November 2022, Glas was released early. A court ruled that his life was in danger in prison. Quite credible in a country where armed groups continue their businesses even behind bars. In 2023, Glas fled to the Mexican embassy. Only on Friday did Mexico approve his request for political asylum. The conservative president of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, calls this an “illegal act.” The police operation was justified by the risk of escape.
The day before, Quito declared the Mexican ambassador persona non grata due to a statement by the leftist Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador (“AMLO”). He spoke out about the assassination of Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, outraged by both his family and conservative President Noboa. A day later, Glas was given asylum and the embassy was assaulted.
According to a nightly statement from the presidential office in Quito, the issue is clear: “No criminal can be considered politically persecuted.” Glas has been convicted. The Mexican embassy abused his immunity and privileges. Under López Obrador, Mexico has repeatedly granted political asylum to politicians accused of corruption or other crimes in their home country.