By Alejandra Garcia and Bill Hackwell on April 7, 2024
Ecuadorian police unit prepare to assault the Mexican Embassy in Quito
This Friday, the world witnessed a historic event in Latin America. Ecuadorian police officers stormed the Mexican embassy in Quito in search of Jorge Glas, former vice president of Ecuador during the administration of Rafael Correa (2007-2017). Hours before this violation of international law was committed, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) granted political asylum to the former official for being a victim of political persecution in his country, like so many other members of Correa’s leftist government, including Correa himself.
Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa has made a sordid move, amid the rising tide of violence in the country and a state of emergency closely watched by the international community for reports of arbitrary detentions and a rampant rise in drug trafficking. Dozens of heavily armed men stormed the diplomatic headquarters and then transferred Glas to a high security prison, where he is already suffering physical and psychological torture, according to local press reports.
Mexican diplomat Roberto Conseco, tries to stop the vehicle carrying Jorge Glas from the Mexican Embassy to prison.
In images released by the government, Glas can be seen entering La Roca prison with , shackles on his hands, wearing a tracksuit and a gray sweatshirt, while he is led by a police officer. La Roca has a capacity for one hundred prisoners, each of them living in an individual cell. A few months ago, it housed gang leaders who vandalized cities and terrorized the Ecuadorian population.
Following the events, President AMLO announced the immediate rupture of diplomatic relations between Mexico and Ecuador, stating that “This is a flagrant violation of international law and Mexico’s sovereignty, for which I have instructed our foreign minister to issue a statement on this authoritarian act, proceed legally and immediately declare the suspension of diplomatic relations with the government of Ecuador,” said the Mexican president on his social networks, as soon as he learned of the incident.
Since then, political figures, international alliances and governments in the region have begun to react in support of the North American nation.
One of the harshest reactions of condemnation came from Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who called the police raid a “fascist act”, while Bolivian President Luis Arce added that this action “has no precedent in the history of international law”. The president of Chile, Gabriel Boric, described the act as unacceptable, as did the Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva,
The Argentine government also expressed its condemnation. “The Argentine Republic joins the countries of the region in condemning what happened last night at the Mexican Embassy in Ecuador”, the Argentine Foreign Ministry released in a statement.
Former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner expressed in a publication in the social network X: “The events of public knowledge that took place in the Mexican Embassy in Ecuador constitute an unprecedented aggression in American territory that violates both international law and the historical tradition of the Republic of Mexico in terms of political asylum”. And he added: “From that country the broad concept of the right of asylum was built, which not only saved the lives of Argentine men and women in the darkest moments of our recent history, but also those of many citizens of the world”.
The Cuban Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bruno Rodriguez, made it clear that the ambassador of the Caribbean island in Ecuador accompanied the Mexican ambassador on her departure from the territory.
“I contacted Alicia Barcena, Secretary of Foreign Affairs of Mexico, and conveyed to her all our solidarity and support to our dear Mexico. At the request of Mexican authorities, the Cuban Ambassador to Ecuador, along with other Heads of Mission, accompanied the Mexican Ambassador to her departure from that country,” Rodriguez said in his X account.
The 18 members of the Mexican diplomatic corps in Quito were also accompanied to the plane by the ambassadors of Germany, Panama, and Honduras, and the president of the Ecuador-Mexico Chamber. “Thank you all for your solidarity with the people of Mexico,” the Mexican Foreign Ministry assured in a statement.
The Alliance for Development in Democracy (ADD), formed by the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica and Panama also rejected Ecuador’s actions against the Mexican embassy in Quito. In the statement, the countries that are part of the ADD “express their rejection and deeply regret the inexcusable violation by the government of Ecuador of the territorial integrity of the Mexican Embassy in Quito. We trust that Ecuador and Mexico, friendly nations, can overcome this serious conflict as soon as possible through dialogue.”
The Mexican embassy in Ecuador will remain closed indefinitely, as will its consular services, and the people of both nations will be the ones to suffer the consequences the most. “The Ecuadorian people are noble people. Mexico is for them like another homeland. Many Ecuadorians love our country and assume our culture as their own. President Noboa made a mistake by taking an unprecedented decision that not only breaks with everything established by international conventions, but also implies a disregard for the reality of his people,” Ambassador Raquel Serur told the press after her arrival in Mexico.
The outrage committed against the Mexican embassy is of such magnitude that the Government of Ecuador still cannot measure what it has done to its people. “The Ecuadorian people do not deserve the government they have. I left Ecuador with my head held high. And I arrive in Mexico standing tall,” Serur concluded.
Source: Resumen Latinoamericano – English