QUITO: Ecuadorian police officers on Friday forcibly broke into the Mexican embassy in Quito, where former Ecuadorian Vice-President Jorge Glas is holed up.
The raid took place hours after the Mexican government granted Glas political asylum as diplomatic tension between both countries deepened. The police broke the external doors of the Mexican diplomatic headquarters in the Ecuadorian capital and entered the main patio.
Immediately after the incident, Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador snapped diplomatic ties with Ecuador. Obrador made the announcement Friday evening.
Ecuadorian police forced their way into the embassy to arrest Glas who has been residing there since December. Glas, arguably the most wanted man in Ecuador, has been convicted on bribery and corruption charges and the Ecuadorian authorities are still investigating more allegations against him.
“This is not possible. It cannot be. This is crazy… I am very worried because they could kill him. There is no basis to do this. This is totally outside norms,” Roberto Canseco, head of the Mexican consular section in Quito, told reporters while standing outside the embassy.
Defending its decision, Ecuador’s presidency said in a statement: “Ecuador is a sovereign nation and we are not going to allow any criminal to stay free.”
Obrador fired back, calling Glas’ detention an “authoritarian act” and “a flagrant violation of international law and the sovereignty of Mexico”.
Alicia Bárcena, Mexico’s secretary of foreign relations, posted on X that a number of diplomats suffered injuries during the break-in, adding that it violated the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
Diplomatic premises are considered “inviolable” under the Vienna treaties and local law enforcement agencies are not allowed to enter without the permission of the ambassador.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange lived inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London for seven years because the British police could not enter to arrest him.
Bárcena said that Mexico would take the case to the International Court of Justice “to denounce Ecuador’s responsibility for violations of international law”. She also said Mexican diplomats were only waiting for the Ecuadorian government to offer the necessary guarantees for their return home.
The Ecuadorian government has declared the Mexican ambassador persona non grata.