Global leaders condemn Ecuador after police break into the Mexican Embassy

Mexico & the Americas

REGINA GARCIA CANO and GABRIELA MOLINA April 7, 2024

The global condemnation of Ecuador’s government for its decision to break into the Mexican Embassy snowballed Sunday, with more

presidents and other

leaders expressing disapproval, shock and dismay.

The criticism came as Mexico’s ambassador and other personnel arrived

Sunday afternoon

in Mexico City

on Sunday afternoon

after departing Ecuador’s capital, Quito, on a commercial flight. President Andrs Manuel Lpez Obrador severed diplomatic ties with Ecuador immediately after Friday’s raid, which international law experts, presidents and diplomats have deemed a violation of long-established international accords.

Alicia Brcena, Mexicos secretary of foreign relations, thanked the returning diplomats Sunday afternoon for defending our embassy in Quito even at the risk of their own physical well-being.”

Not even the dictator Pinochet had dared to enter the Mexican embassy in Chile. They entered violently and without authorization, physically assaulting [diplomats],” she said at a press conference

Sunday

. “We energetically condemn it.

Mexico breaks ties with Ecuador after police storm its embassy in Quito to arrest politician

Police broke through the external doors of the Mexican Embassy in Quito to arrest Jorge Glas, a former

Ecuadorian

vice president who had been residing there since December. He had sought asylum after being indicted on corruption charges.

Brcena said Mexico plans to challenge the raid

on

Monday at the World Court in The Hague. She added that 18 countries in Latin America, 20 in Europe and the Organization of American States have backed Mexico

on the issue

.

The Spanish foreign ministry in a statement Sunday said,

The entry by force into the Embassy of Mexico in Quito constitutes a violation of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations

,” Spain’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement

Sunday. “We call for respect for international law and harmony between Mexico and Ecuador, brotherly countries to Spain and members of the Ibero-American community.

A day earlier, the OAS

in a statement

reminded

its

members, which include Ecuador and Mexico, of their obligation not to invoke norms of domestic law to justify non-compliance with their international obligations.

Armed men storm TV studio during a live broadcast in Ecuador

U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said the

nation United States

“condemns any violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, and takes very seriously the obligation of host countries under international law to respect the inviolability of diplomatic missions. He called on

Ecuador and Mexico the two countries

to resolve their differences.

Honduran President Xiomara Castro, writing on X, characterized the raid as an intolerable act for the international community and a violation of the sovereignty of the Mexican State and international law because it ignores the historical and fundamental right to asylum.

Diplomatic premises are considered foreign soil and inviolable under the Vienna treaties, and

law enforcement agencies in host countries host country law enforcement agencies

are not allowed to enter without the permission of the ambassador. People seeking asylum have lived

anywhere from days to years

at embassies around the world

for days or even years., including at

Ecuadors

embassy

in London

, which

housed WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange for seven years, as British police could not enter to arrest him.

Brcena, Mexicos secretary of foreign relations, on Friday posted

toon the social media platform

X that a number of diplomats suffered injuries during the break-in.

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On Saturday, Glas was taken from the attorney generals office in Quito to the port city of Guayaquil, where he will remain in custody at a maximum-security prison.

Glas His

attorney Sonia Vera told the Associated Press that officers broke into his room in the Mexican embassy, and he resisted when they attempted to put his hands behind his back. She said the officers then knocked him to the floor, kicked him in the head, in the spine, in the legs, the hands, and when he couldnt walk, they dragged him out.

Vera said the defense team was not allowed to speak with Glas while he was at the prosecutors office and

it

is

now

working to file a habeas corpus petition to challenge the charges against him.

Authorities are investigating Glas over alleged irregularities during his management of reconstruction efforts following a

npowerful

earthquake in 2016 that killed hundreds of people. He was convicted on bribery and corruption charges in other cases.

Ecuadors Foreign Minister Gabriela Sommerfeld on Saturday told reporters that the decision to enter the embassy was made by President Daniel Noboa after considering Glas imminent flight risk and exhausting all possibilities for diplomatic dialogue with Mexico.

No one hurt, 13 arrested after armed men storm Ecuadorean TV studio during live broadcast

Mexico granted

Glas

asylum

to Glas

hours before the raid. Sommerfeld said it is not legal to grant asylum to people convicted of common crimes and by competent courts.

Noboa became Ecuadors president last year as the nation battled unprecedented crime tied to drug trafficking.

In January, h

e declared the country

to be

in an internal armed conflict

in January

and designated 20 drug-trafficking gangs as terrorist groups that the military had authorization to neutralize within the bounds of international humanitarian law.

Will Freeman, a fellow of Latin American studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, said the decision to send police to Mexicos embassy raises concerns over the steps Noboa is willing to take to get reelected. His tenure ends in 2025, as he was

only

elected only to finish the term of former President Guillermo Lasso.

I really hope Noboa is not turning more in a Bukele direction, Freeman said, referring to El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, whose tough-on-crime policies have been heavily criticized by human rights organizations. Thats to say, less respectful of rule of law in order to get a boost to his popularity ahead of the elections.

Freeman added that whether Glas was abusing diplomatic protection is a separate issue from the decision to send police to the embassy.

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We see a pattern of that in Latin America, with politicians abusing embassies and foreign jurisdictions, not to flee prosecution but to flee accountability, he said.

The Mexican Embassy in Quito remained under heavy police guard after the raid.

the boiling point of recent tensions between Mexico and Ecuador.

Vera, Glas attorney, said she fears something could happen to him while in custody, considering the track record of

Ecuador’sthe countrys

detention facilities, where hundreds

of people

have died during

violent

riots over the past few years. Those killed while in custody include

some

suspects in last years assassination of a presidential candidate.

In Ecuador, going to jail is practically a death sentence, Vera said. We consider that the international political and legal person responsible for the life of Jorge Glas is President Daniel Noboa Azn.

Cano and Molina write for the Associated Press. Cano reported from Mexico City. AP writers Megan Janetsky in Mexico City and Gonzalo Solano in Quito contributed to this report.