Mexico has severed diplomatic relations with Ecuador following a controversial incident at the Mexican embassy in Quito, where police arrested former Ecuadorian Vice-President Jorge Glas.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador condemned the “forcible entry” into the embassy as a clear breach of international law.
Glas sought refuge at the embassy last December after facing corruption allegations in Ecuador. His lawyer maintains his innocence.
After the embassy incident, Glas was flown under police escort to Guayaquil and is expected to face trial in a maximum-security facility.
Glas, who served as Ecuador’s vice-president from 2013 to 2017, faced corruption charges related to the Odebrecht scandal and was sentenced to six years in prison.
Despite being released in November, new corruption charges prompted him to seek asylum at the Mexican embassy.
Mexico granted Glas political asylum, a move Ecuador deemed illegal, leading to heightened tensions between the two nations.
Ecuadorian authorities, citing Glas’s prior imprisonment and arrest warrant, defended their actions as upholding their nation’s sovereignty.
The embassy incident involved police scaling walls and fences, resulting in injuries to diplomats. President Obrador condemned Ecuador’s actions, ordering the suspension of diplomatic ties.
In response, Nicaragua also severed diplomatic relations with Ecuador, denouncing the “unusual and reprehensible” embassy intervention.
The escalating tensions stemmed from recent remarks by President Obrador about violence during Ecuador’s past elections, leading to Ecuador declaring the Mexican ambassador persona non grata and expelling her from the country.
Source-BBC
