QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Mexico has severed diplomatic relations with Ecuador after police stormed the Mexican embassy in Quito to arrest Ecuador's former vice president who sought political asylum there after being accused of corruption.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador made the announcement on Friday evening after Ecuadorian police stormed the Mexican embassy to arrest Jorge Glass, who has been residing there since December, as a diplomatic row between the two countries worsened.
Glass, arguably the country's most wanted man, was convicted of bribery and corruption. The Ecuadorian authorities are still investigating further accusations against him.
Police attempt to storm the Mexican embassy in Quito, Ecuador, Friday, April 5, 2024, after Mexico granted asylum to former Ecuadorian Vice President Jorge Glas, who took refuge there. Later, the police forcefully stormed the embassy through another entrance. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)
The police stormed the outer doors of the Mexican diplomatic headquarters in the Ecuadorian capital and entered the main courtyard to arrest Glass.
“This is not possible, it cannot be, this is crazy,” Roberto Canseco, head of the Mexican consular section in the capital, Quito, told local media while standing outside the embassy. “I am very worried that they might kill him. There is no basis for doing that, and this is completely outside the norm.”
The Ecuadorian presidency said in a statement defending its decision: “Ecuador is a sovereign state and we will not allow any criminal to remain free.”
Lopez Obrador responded, calling Glass's detention an “act of tyranny” and a “flagrant violation of international law and Mexico's sovereignty.”
Alicia Bárcena, Mexico's Minister of Foreign Relations, previously posted on Twitter that a number of diplomats were injured during the break-in, adding that it violated the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
Bárcena said Mexico would take the case to the International Court of Justice “to denounce Ecuador's responsibility for violations of international law.” She also said that Mexican diplomats are just waiting for the Ecuadorian government to provide the necessary guarantees for their return to their homeland.
The Ecuadorian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ecuadorian Ministry of the Interior did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Mexican Embassy in Quito remained under heavy police guard late Friday.
A day before that, tensions escalated between the two countries after the President of Mexico made statements that Ecuador considered “very unfortunate” regarding the recent elections in which Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa won.
In response, the Ecuadorian government The Mexican ambassador was declared persona non grata.
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