Mexico has decided to cut diplomatic ties with Ecuador after Ecuadorian police raided its embassy in Quito to arrest former Ecuadorian Vice President Jorge Glas.
A spokesperson for Mexico's foreign ministry confirmed the decision, stating that all Mexican diplomatic personnel would be leaving Ecuador immediately. The raid, which took place on Friday night, involved Ecuadorian police entering the Mexican embassy in Quito to apprehend Glas, who is seeking asylum there. Mexico has condemned the raid as a breach of international law.
Video footage from the scene showed police officers gathering around the embassy, some of them armed. Embassies are generally considered to be protected spaces under diplomatic norms
Tensions between the two Latin American countries have been escalating since Mexico granted political asylum to Glas, who served as vice president under leftist ex-President Rafael Correa from 2013 to 2017. Glas, who has been convicted twice on corruption charges, claims he is being politically persecuted and had been staying inside the embassy.
However, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador tweeted that he had been informed that "police from Ecuador forcibly entered" the Mexican embassy and took Glas, who "was a refugee and processing asylum because of the persecution and harassment he faces."
Ecuador's government also confirmed the arrest in a statement, noting that Glas had been sentenced to imprisonment by the Ecuadorian justice system and was "arrested tonight and placed under the orders of the competent authorities." The government stated that Glas had been granted diplomatic asylum, which was "contrary to the conventional legal framework."
Roberto Canseco, head of chancellery and policy affairs at the Mexican embassy, described the arrest as "an outrage against international law and the inviolability of the Mexican embassy in Ecuador," calling it "totally unacceptable" and "barbarism."
Mexico intends to file a complaint with the International Court of Justice to denounce the actions of the Ecuadorian police, according to a spokesperson for Mexico's Secretary of Foreign Affairs. Alicia Bárcena, Mexico's Secretary of Foreign Affairs, stated that there had been no prior contact with Ecuador's foreign ministry regarding the arrest and that Canseco was physically assaulted during the arrest.
The tensions were further exacerbated by López Obrador's criticism of Ecuador's recent elections, where he described the 2023 run-off vote as "very strange" and suggested that presidential candidates had manipulated the media and benefited from the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio and overall violence during their campaigns.
This diplomatic rift led to a series of provocations, including Ecuador declaring Mexico's ambassador to the country persona non grata.