ECUADOR faced a barrage of international condemnation at the weekend after police in the capital Quito broke into the Mexican embassy to arrest former vice-president Jorge Glas, who had been granted political asylum.
Friday night’s raid prompted Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to break off diplomatic relations with Ecuador, while his Foreign Secretary Alicia Barcena warned that the move would be challenged at the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
Mr Glas, who held office during the third presidential term of leftwinger Rafael Correa, had been living in the embassy since December. He claimed asylum after being indicted on corruption charges and it had been granted hours earlier.
The Organisation of American States reminded its members, which include Ecuador and Mexico, of their obligation not to “invoke norms of domestic law to justify non-compliance with their international obligations.”
US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said that “the United States condemns any violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and takes very seriously the obligation of host countries under international law to respect the inviolability of diplomatic missions.”
Diplomatic premises are considered foreign soil and inviolable under the Vienna treaties and host country police are not allowed to enter without the permission of the ambassador.
Honduran President Xiomara Castro, on X (Twitter), branded the raid “an intolerable act for the international community” and a “violation of the sovereignty of the Mexican state and international law” because “it ignores the historical and fundamental right to asylum.”
Ms Barcena said that a number of diplomats had suffered injuries during the break-in.
On Saturday, Mr Glas was taken from the attorney general’s office in Quito to the port city of Guayaquil to be held at a maximum-security prison.
His lawyer Sonia Vera said that officers had “knocked him to the floor, kicked him in the head, in the spine, in the legs, the hands,” and when he “couldn’t walk, they dragged him out.”
Authorities are investigating Mr Glas over alleged irregularities during his management of reconstruction efforts following a powerful earthquake in 2016 that killed hundreds of people. He was convicted on bribery and corruption charges in other cases.
Foreign Minister Gabriela Sommerfeld said on Saturday that the embassy raid had been ordered by President Daniel Noboa after it was decided that Mr Glas posed an “imminent flight risk.” She claimed that all possibilities for diplomatic dialogue with Mexico had been exhausted.
