5 keys to understanding Mexico’s diplomatic crisis with Ecuador after the police raid on the Mexican embassy in Quito

The relationships between Mexico It is Ecuador They hit rock bottom.

The government of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador decided this Friday to break diplomatic relations with Ecuador, after a group of Ecuadorian police climbed the walls and fences of the Mexican embassy in Quito to enter the facilities.

LOOK: Who is Jorge Glas, the former vice president of Ecuador at the center of Mexico’s diplomatic rift with his country

The operation sought capture former vice president Jorge Glasconvicted by Ecuadorian justice for corruption and who had been taking refuge in the Mexican embassy since December.

This is an unprecedented and heavily criticized event inside and outside Ecuador, but which the government of President Rafael Novoa justifies by guaranteeing that it is in defense of national sovereignty and to avoid foreign intervention in the internal affairs of his country.

“Ecuador is a sovereign country and we will not allow any criminal to go unpunished,” his government said in a statement.

In this article we summarize the diplomatic crisis that the two Latin American countries are facing.

1. Rising tensions

Tensions quickly rose following controversial statements made by the president on Wednesday Andrés Manuel López Obrador in which he suggested that the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio influenced voting intentions.

In the middle of the election campaign, last August, Villavicencio was shot dead as he left a rally in Quito by a group of heavily armed men.

Some statements by Andrés Manuel López Obrador caused the Ecuadorian government to declare the Mexican ambassador to Ecuador, Raquel Serur, persona non grata. (GET IMAGES).

In response to AMLO’s comments, the Ecuadorian government declared on Thursday persona non grata to the Mexican ambassador in Ecuador, Raquel Serur, and gave her a “short period” to leave the country.

On Friday, Mexico published a statement in which it described the Ecuadorian response as “disproportionate” and reported that Roberto Canseco – head of the Mexican consular mission in Ecuador – would remain in charge of the embassy, ​​which would continue to “operate normally”.

In the same statement he stated that “after an exhaustive analysis” of the situation, The Mexican government decided to grant political asylum to former vice president Jorge Glaswho had been taking refuge in the embassy since December 17 last year.

2. Attack on the Mexican embassy

Amid a diplomatic standoff, Ecuador’s military and police began surrounding the Mexican embassy in Quito on Friday afternoon.

The López Obrador government immediately rejected the increase in Ecuadorian police forces outside its embassy and He demanded that Ecuador respect its sovereignty and fulfill its international obligations.

During the night, a group of Ecuadorian police invaded the premises and captured former vice president Jorge Glas.

“Alicia Bárcena, our Secretary of Foreign Affairs, has just informed me that The Ecuadorian police forcefully entered our embassy and took us into custody. to the former vice president of that country who was a refugee and was processing asylum due to the persecution and harassment he faced”, reported the Mexican president in his report on X.

Roberto Canseco speaking to the media as he tries to prevent the arrest of former Ecuadorian vice president Jorge Glas. (EPA).

“This is a flagrant violation of international law and Mexico’s sovereignty,” the president added.

The head of the Mexican consular mission in Ecuador, Roberto Canseco, was at the embassy when heavily armed Ecuadorian police They were trying to climb the walls of the enclosure.

Speaking to the press, he said he hit his head on the floor and tried to prevent agents from entering the embassy.

“By risking my life, I defended the honor and sovereignty of my country. It can not be, It’s incredible that something like this happened.”, he assured the media.

“I’m very worried that they could kill him (Jorge Glas). There is no basis for doing this. We were about to leave and suddenly we came across police officers, thieves who entered the embassy at night,” he added.

3. Who is Jorge Glas

The political career of Ecuador’s former vice president Jorge Glas Espinel – the man at the center of Mexico’s rupture in relations with Quito – is closely associated with a name: that of former president Rafael Correa.

Glas Espinel was born in 1969 in the city of Guayaquil, the second most important in the country. He trained as an electrical engineer and although over the years he has been linked to Correa in several political campaigns, he has not held public office.

Jorge Glas at the end of 2022. (GETTY IMAGES).

But that changed in January 2007, when Correa became president of Ecuadorand immediately called Glas to help him manage the country’s Solidarity Fund, an institution that sought to invest the profits generated by several public telephone and electricity companies in social projects.

This fund was liquidated by Glas himself in 2010.

Therefore, both his proximity to the president and his management led him to other relevant public positions, such as the Ministry of Telecommunications.

Since his first official position in 2007 as head of the Solidarity Fund during Correa’s first administration, Glas – 54 years old and an engineer by profession – has started a meteoric career within the government and in the former president’s circleswhich led him to join him on the presidential ticket in the 2013 campaign.

But it was also with his foray as vice-president of Correa that his problems with the law began.

After four years in office, in December 2017 Glas was sentenced to eight years in prison. prison for receiving bribes from Brazilian construction company Odebretchin a case that affected several governments in Latin America.

At that time Glas served as vice-president of Lenín Moreno, elected in May of that year to succeed Correa.

It was Moreno himself who confirmed, after a vote in the Ecuadorian parliament in January 2018, that Glas would no longer hold the position of vice president during his term.

At that moment he surrendered to authorities.

But after several court decisions and thanks to a habeas corpus, Glas was granted parole on November 28, 2022, when he had already served half of his sentence.

However, legal proceedings continued and The politician was summoned by justice at the end of 2023 to answer for another case of corruption associated with the management of funds following the earthquake that occurred in the province of Manabí seven years earlier.

Glas then sought diplomatic refuge at the Mexican embassy.

4. International reactions

The Ecuadorian police invasion of the embassy provoked a unanimous reaction of rejection from governments in the region and international organizations.

Several leaders expressed that this is a violation of international instruments regulating diplomatic relations and the right to asylum.

The Nicaraguan government broke diplomatic relations with Ecuador this Saturday in solidarity with Mexico in the face of events that it described as “unusual and reprehensible”.

Xiomara Castro de Zelaya, president of Honduras, wrote in his report in

Castro repudiated what he considers a “violation of the sovereignty of the State Mexican and international law.

Xiomara Castro de Zelaya, president of Honduras. (GET IMAGES).

Itamaraty also condemned what happened.

In his statement, he also recalled that he is awaiting approval from the Venezuelan government of Nicolás Maduro so that the six opposition leaders taking refuge in the Argentine embassy in Caracas.

He president of Colombia, Gustavo Pedroalso rejected the Ecuadorian government’s actions this Saturday.

“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 of each country, must keep alive the precepts of international law in the midst of barbarism that advances in the world and the democratic pact on the continent”, wrote the president in X.

In turn, the Organization of American States issued a statement in which it expressed its solidarity with the victims “of the inappropriate actions that affected the Mexican Embassy in Ecuador.” and urged the parties to peacefully resolve their differences.

5. The effects on Ecuador

The episode also provoked a strong reaction from the opposition to Daniel Noboa’s government. Correismo called for the president’s resignation.

“Mr Daniel Noboa, submit your resignation. “Ecuador is not your banana plantation”expressed the former presidential candidate at a press conference. Luisa González. “The president’s incapacity to govern has been demonstrated,” he added.

The group of the Correísta Revolucion Cidadã party, which is by far the largest in the Assembly, with 51 legislators, declared itself in opposition to the Noboa government.

“We will not be complicit in an authoritarian and dictatorial government model,” said deputy Viviana Veloz.

Veloz, who serves as first vice-president of the Assembly, announced that the your party will present impeachment requests against the Chancellor, the Government Minister and the Minister of Defense for their “incapacity, negligence and irresponsibility”.

Until now, the Noboa government has maintained a legislative agreement with the Citizen Revolution bench that has allowed it to form the necessary majorities to approve some economic laws.

For your part, former Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa, who governed alongside Glas, He declared: “What the Noboa government did is unprecedented in Latin American history.”

“Not even in the worst dictatorships was a country’s embassy violated. We do not live in a State of law, but rather in a State of barbarism, with an improvised system that confuses the Homeland with one of its banana farms”, he added on the X social network.

Noboa is the heir to an emporium whose business includes banana exports.

He also held the president responsible for Glas’ physical and psychological safety and integrity.

The mayor of Quito, Pabel Muñozdescribed what happened as “unacceptable” and “a global shame”.

But the Ecuadorian government guarantees that defends national sovereignty without allowing anyone to intervene in the country’s internal affairs.

Source: Elcomercio