The Government of Ecuador entered the Mexican Embassy in Quito on Friday night and detained Jorge Glas, former vice president of Rafael Correa (2007-2017), after the Mexican Government had granted him asylum. policy that he had requested, which led President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to announce the suspension of diplomatic relations with the Andean country.
The Ecuadorian National Police climbed the walls of the Mexican diplomatic headquarters to capture Glas, who was under a preventive detention order for a case of alleged corruption in which he is currently being prosecuted, after having spent nearly five years between 2017 and 2022. in jail for two current convictions for crimes that he rejects, considering that he is the victim of political persecution against him.
EFE was able to verify that several police officers climbed walls and fences of the Mexican diplomatic headquarters and then left that residence, which was denounced by the head of the Foreign Ministry and Political Affairs of the Embassy, Roberto Canseco, as something “totally unacceptable, it is the barbarism”.
Canseco told reporters that the Ecuadorian police officers broke into the Embassy and attacked the personnel on duty at the diplomatic headquarters.
“Like criminals they raided the Mexican Embassy in Ecuador. This is not possible. It just can’t be. “It’s crazy,” he said, visibly upset before expressing his concern for Glas “because they can kill him.”
“There is no basis to do this,” he asserted, indicating that there was no prior notice about the entry of the Police. “This is outside the norm, and they are doing it because (Glas) is a persecuted person, as we can see today,” he stated.
López Obrador announces suspension of relations
Minutes later, the Ecuadorian Government confirmed the arrest of Glas in a statement on social networks, as did the president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, on social networks to denounce “a flagrant violation of international law and the sovereignty of Mexico.” .
“I have instructed our chancellor (Alicia Bárcena) to issue a statement regarding this authoritarian act, proceed legally and immediately declare the suspension of diplomatic relations with the Government of Ecuador,” López Obrador announced.
The entry of the Ecuadorian authorities into the Mexican Embassy and the subsequent arrest of Glas occurred at a time of maximum tension in relations between both countries, after the Government of the Ecuadorian president, Daniel Noboa, had expelled the Mexican ambassador. due to some statements by López Obrador, about the murder of the candidate Fernando Villavicencio and the effect on the elections won by the young businessman, 36 years old.
For weeks, the idea of the Noboa Government was to enter the Mexican Embassy to arrest Glas, and to do so they asked permission from Ambassador Raquel Serur at the end of February, which without hesitation was quickly denied by the Mexican Executive.
The Government of Ecuador calls Glas a “criminal”
In a statement, the Government of Ecuador stated that “no criminal can be considered politically persecuted” and that Glas “has been sentenced with an enforceable sentence (firm) and had an arrest warrant issued by the competent authorities.”
Furthermore, he assured that “since the immunities and privileges granted to the diplomatic mission have been abused” and that Mexico has granted asylum to Glas, “contrary to the conventional legal framework, his capture has been proceeded with.”
“Ecuador is a sovereign country and we are not going to allow any criminal to go unpunished,” added the Ecuadorian Presidency, which reiterated its “respect for the Mexican people who share our feelings for the fight against corruption that affects neutral countries.”
The precedent of former Minister Duarte
Since the Government of Mexico had announced the decision to grant political asylum to Glas, the Embassy was heavily guarded outside to avoid a new episode like the one that occurred a little over a year ago with former Correista minister María de los Ángeles Duarte. .
In that case, it was Argentina, under the Government of Peronist President Alberto Fernández, the country that granted the political asylum requested by Duarte after more than two years staying in the residence of the Argentine ambassador with her minor son.
However, the then Ecuadorian president Guillermo Lasso did not agree to deliver the safe conduct permit that would allow Duarte to leave the country towards Buenos Aires without being detained, so the former minister was able to leave Ecuador without the Ecuadorian authorities noticing, which which sparked a diplomatic crisis with Argentina in which both countries expelled their respective ambassadors.
Glas, in prison between 2017 and 2022
In the case of Glas, the former vice president had arrived at the Mexican Embassy at the end of December 2023, after being charged with alleged embezzlement of funds in the ‘Reconstruction’ case of the province of Manabí, after the strong earthquake of 2016.
Glas, who was released at the end of 2022 after serving five years in prison for two convictions for bribery and illicit association of eight and six years in prison, respectively, is being prosecuted for alleged embezzlement (embezzlement) in the ‘Reconstruction’ case of the coastal province of Manabí after the 2016 earthquake.
The former vice president, who considers himself innocent and a persecuted political victim of ‘lawfare’, arrived at the Mexican Embassy in Quito when there was still no arrest warrant against him, and at the beginning of this year a judge ordered his capture and he was sent to prison. provisional.
BY: Nadeem Faisal Baiga
