MEXICO was set to take Ecuador to the top United Nations court today, accusing it of violating international law when police stormed the Mexican embassy in Quito to arrest a former vice-president who had just been given asylum by Mexico.

The April 5 raid, which took place hours after Mexico’s grant of asylum to former vice-president Jorge Glas, brought to a peak tensions that had been brewing between the two countries since Mr Glas took refuge at the embassy in December.

Leaders across Latin America condemned the raid as a blatant violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.