Soldiers and police stand guard outside the Mexican embassy, in Quito, Ecuador, Friday, April 5, 2024. Ecuador on Thursday declared Mexico's ambassador to Quito persona non grata due to recent statements made by Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador regarding Ecuador's 2023 presidential elections. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)
QUITO, Ecuador (AP) – Mexico’s president said Friday evening the country will break diplomatic ties with Ecuador after police broke into Mexican embassy in Quito.
The announcement came after Ecuadorian police officers forcibly broke into the Mexican embassy in Quito, detaining former Ecuadorian Vice President Jorge Glas, who was seeking political asylum there, as a diplomatic rift between the two countries deepened.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
QUITO, Ecuador (AP) –
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
QUITO, Ecuador (AP) – Ecuadorian police officers on Friday forcibly broke into the Mexican embassy in Quito, detaining former Ecuadorian Vice President Jorge Glas, taking refuge in embassy. Mexico’s president declared the act “a flagrant violation of international law and the sovereignty of Mexico,” and announced he would officially severe diplomatic relations with Ecuador.
The raid took place hours after the Mexican government granted Glas political asylum as diplomatic tensions between both countries deepen. Glas is perhaps the most wanted man in Ecuador, faces investigations into of corruption, bribery and more.
The police broke the external doors of the Mexican diplomatic headquarters in the Ecuadorian capital and entered the main patio.
“Ecuador is a sovereign nation and we are not going to permit any criminal to stay free,” wrote Ecuador’s Presidency in a statement Friday night.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador fired back calling the detention an “authoritarian act”.
His government will “proceed legally and immediately declare the suspension of diplomatic relations,” López Obrador wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Experts watching the arrests pointed out the act was bold violation of the Vienna Conventions on Consular Relations, something that is likely to put a firm wedge between the governments of Mexico and Ecuador.
“This is not possible, it cannot be, this is crazy,” said Roberto Canseco, head of the Mexican consular section in Quito, outside the embassy.
Asked about the situation of former Vice President Glas and if he was apprehended by public forces, he stated: “I understand that yes, I am very worried because they could kill him; there is no basis to do this, this is totally outside the norm.”
Ecuador’s foreign ministry and Ecuador’s ministry of the interior did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.
The Mexican embassy in Quito remained under heavy police guard late Friday.
A day earlier, tensions between the two countries escalated after Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador made statements that Ecuador considered “very unfortunate” about the last elections in which the Ecuadorian president Daniel Noboa won.
In reaction, the Ecuadorian government declared the Mexican ambassador persona non grata.
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