QUITO, ECUADOR (AP) – International leaders condemned Ecuador after police in the capital stormed the Mexican embassy to arrest a former vice president who had been granted political asylum.
The raid late Friday forced Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to sever diplomatic ties with Ecuador, while his government's foreign minister said the measure would be challenged at the World Court in The Hague. .
read more: Mexico cuts ties with Ecuador after embassy attack in Quito
Police broke through the door outside the embassy in Quito and arrested Jorge Glass, who had been resident at the embassy since December. He had sought asylum after being indicted on corruption charges and had been granted asylum hours earlier.
The intrusion was widely condemned.
In a statement, the Organization of American States reminded member states, including Ecuador and Mexico, of their obligation not to “invoke domestic legal norms to justify non-compliance with international obligations.”
Spain's Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Sunday: “The armed entry into the Mexican embassy in Quito constitutes a violation of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. We call for respect for international law and harmony between Mexico and Ecuador.” Stated. It is a nation of brotherhood to members of the Spanish and Ibero-American communities. ”
“The United States condemns any violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and takes very seriously the obligation of host states under international law to respect the inviolability of diplomatic missions,” said U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller. ” He called on both countries to resolve their differences.
Honduran President Xiomara Castro wrote in an article on It was characterized as a violation of international law.
Under the Vienna Convention, diplomatic facilities are considered foreign territory and “inviolable,” and law enforcement from the host country is not allowed to enter them without permission from the ambassador. People seeking asylum live in embassies around the world for anywhere from a few days to several years, including the Ecuadorian embassy in London. The embassy held WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange for seven years because British police were unable to enter to arrest him.
Mexico's Foreign Secretary Alicia Bárcena posted on social media platform X on Friday that a number of diplomats were injured in the incursion.
Bárcena said Mexico would file a lawsuit with the International Court of Justice “to denounce Ecuador's responsibility for violations of international law.” She also remembered a Mexican diplomat.
Glass is taken to prison
On Saturday, Gras was taken from the attorney general's office in Quito to the port city of Guayaquil, where he will be held in a maximum-security prison. People gathered outside the prosecutor's office chanted “good luck” as he left with a convoy of police and military vehicles.
Glass' attorney, Sonia Vela, told The Associated Press that Glass resisted when police entered her room and tried to put her hands behind her back. She said the officers then “slammed him to the floor and kicked him in the head, spine, legs and hands” and “dragged him when he could no longer walk.”
Vella said the defense team is not allowed to speak to Glass while he is in the prosecutor's office and is currently pursuing a habeas corpus petition.
Authorities are investigating Mr. Glass for alleged wrongdoing while managing reconstruction efforts after the 2016 earthquake that killed hundreds of people. He was also convicted of bribery and corruption in other cases.
Ecuador's Foreign Minister Gabriela Sommerfeld told reporters on Saturday that in view of Gras's “imminent flight risk” and having exhausted all possibilities for diplomatic dialogue with Mexico, President Daniel Novoa was appointed ambassador. He said he had made the decision to enter the building.
Mexico granted Mr. Glass asylum hours before the attack. “It is illegal to grant asylum to people who have been convicted of common crimes and who have been convicted by a court of competent jurisdiction,” Sommerfeld said.
Ecuador's president faces re-election next year
Noboa became Ecuador's president last year as the country grappled with unprecedented crimes related to drug trafficking. In January, he declared the country in an “internal armed conflict” and designated 20 drug-trafficking organizations as terrorist groups, which the military has the power to “neutralize” under international humanitarian law.
read more: Daniel Novoa becomes Ecuador's president, inheriting leadership of a country in crisis
Will Freeman, a Latin American studies fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, said the decision to send police to the Mexican embassy raises concerns about the steps Novoa may take toward reelection. His term will end in 2025, as he was elected to coincide with the expiration of former President Guillermo Lasso's term.
“I sincerely hope that Mr. Noboa does not move further in Mr. Boucle's direction,” Freeman said, referring to El Salvador's President Nayib Boucle, whose hard-line policies on crime have been heavily criticized by human rights groups. . “That means they have become less respectful of the rule of law in order to boost their popularity ahead of elections.”
Freeman added that whether Glass abused his diplomatic protection is a “separate issue” from the decision to send police to the embassy.
“In Latin America, we see the same pattern of politicians abusing embassies and foreign jurisdiction to escape responsibility rather than escape prosecution,” he said.
The Mexican embassy in Quito remained under heavy police security following the recent attack that brought tensions between Mexico and Ecuador to a boiling point.
Mr. Glass' lawyer, Ms. Vera, said she feared “something could happen” to Mr. Glass while he was in custody, given the country's detention facilities' track record of violent riots in the past few years that have left hundreds of people dead. He said he was there. Those killed in custody include some of the suspects in last year's assassination of a presidential candidate.
“In Ecuador, going to prison is effectively a death sentence,” Vera said. “We believe that the international political and legal figure responsible for the life of Mr. Jorge Glass is President Daniel Noboa Azin.”
Garcia Cano reported from Mexico City. Associated Press writers Gonzalo Solano in Quito and Megan Janetsky in Mexico City contributed to this report.