In a dramatic turn of events, Mexico has severed diplomatic relations with Ecuador following a police action that took place on Friday night. The Ecuadorian police invaded the Mexican embassy in Quito and arrested former vice president Jorge Glas, who had been seeking political asylum in the diplomatic representation since December.
The head of the Chancellery and Political Affairs of the Mexican embassy, Roberto Canseco, strongly condemned the invasion and attack on the guards at the diplomatic headquarters. He called it unacceptable and barbaric.
Glas was detained in the diplomatic unit and later transferred to a Public Prosecutor’s Office unit in Quito. He was then taken to the La Roca maximum security prison in Guayaquil. Glas had served as vice-president in the administration of Rafael Correa and Lenin Moreno and had already been convicted of embezzlement twice. However, he sought refuge at the Mexican embassy in Quito and never left.
In January, an Ecuadorian court ordered his preventive detention, but by that time, he was already sheltered in the embassy. The granting of asylum led to a deterioration of diplomatic tensions between Ecuador and Mexico. Days before the incident, López Obrador made intemperate statements about non-leftist politicians in Ecuador, prompting the Ecuadorian government to declare him persona non grata and order his expulsion from the country.
The police invasion on Friday night was a direct violation of international law, leading Mexico to break diplomatic relations with Ecuador. Embassies have inviolability guaranteed by international treaties, and both countries are signatories to the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. Mexico had previously denied a request from Ecuadorian authorities to enter
