Ecuador severs ties with Mexico after embassy raid arrests ex‑VP Glas

On Friday evening, Ecuadorian police entered the Mexican embassy in Quito by force and arrested former Ecuadorian Vice President Jorge Glas, who sought refuge there from the law. This move led Mexico to sever diplomatic relations with Ecuador.

Jorge Glas served as the Vice President of Ecuador from 2013 to 2017 under President Rafael Correa's left-leaning administration. Glas's tenure ended prematurely when he was found guilty in a corruption scandal.

While serving his prison sentence, he recently sought sanctuary in the Mexican embassy in Quito to evade pre-trial detention for yet another corruption charge. Glas applied for political asylum, which Mexican authorities granted him on Friday.

On the same day, the police forcefully breached the embassy, apprehended Glas, and escorted him to court, justifying their intrusion by claiming the asylum grant was against the law.

An official statement from the office of Ecuador's President Daniel Noboa criticized Mexico for exceeding the rights due to diplomatic missions by offering Glas diplomatic asylum, disregarding the conventions in place.

In contrast, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador condemned the incident as authoritarian misconduct and a blatant infringement of international law and Mexico's sovereignty. Following this, Foreign Minister Alicia Barcena announced the immediate cut-off of diplomatic ties with Ecuador.

According to the AP agency, this confrontation signifies a further decline in relations between Ecuador and Mexico. On Thursday, the Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry ordered the Mexican ambassador in Quito to depart after President Lopez Obrador's comments on Noboa's recent election victory, which were deemed "unfortunate."

Previously, at a standard press briefing, the Mexican President hinted that the leftist candidate Luisa Gonzalez lost to Noboa due to baseless associations with the assassination of Fernanda Villavicencio, another contestant in the Ecuadorian presidential race, who was killed during her campaign.