Mexico’s president says country will break diplomatic ties with Ecuador after police raid embassy

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Friday evening that his country would sever diplomatic ties with Ecuador after police stormed the Mexican embassy in Quito.

The announcement comes after Ecuadorian police officers broke into the Mexican embassy in Quito, arresting former Ecuadorian Vice President Jorge Glas, who was seeking political asylum there, as the diplomatic divide between the two countries deepens. was digging.

Glas, arguably Ecuador’s most wanted man, is under investigation for corruption, bribery and more.

Police broke down the exterior doors of the Mexican diplomatic headquarters in the Ecuadorian capital and entered the main courtyard.

“Ecuador is a sovereign nation and we will not allow any criminal to remain at large,” the Ecuadorian presidency wrote in a statement Friday evening.

López Obrador responded by calling Glas’ detention an “authoritarian act” and a “flagrant violation of international law and Mexican sovereignty.”

Alicia Bárcena, Mexico’s foreign secretary, added that a number of diplomats were injured in the incident and said the incident violated the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.

Experts who observed the arrest noted that the act constituted a bold violation of the Vienna Conventions on Consular Relations, which is likely to drive a wedge between the governments of Mexico and Ecuador.

“It’s not possible, it can’t be, it’s crazy,” Roberto Canseco, head of the Mexican consular section in Quito, said outside the embassy.

Asked about the situation of former Vice President Glas and whether he has been apprehended by public forces, he said: “I understand that yes, I am very worried because they could kill him; there is no basis for doing this, it is totally out of the norm.

Ecuador’s foreign ministry and interior ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.

The Mexican embassy in Quito remained under heavy police surveillance Friday evening.

A day earlier, tensions between the two countries escalated after Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador made statements that Ecuador considered “very unfortunate” about the latest elections won by Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa.

In response, the Ecuadorian government declared the Mexican ambassador persona non grata.