People stand outside the Venezuelan embassy in Quito, Ecuador, on Tuesday.
Dolores Ochoa/AP
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Dolores Ochoa/AP
People stand outside the Venezuelan embassy in Quito, Ecuador, on Tuesday.
Dolores Ochoa/AP
MEXICO CITY — Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on Tuesday ordered the closure of his country’s embassy and consulates in Ecuador in solidarity with Mexico in its protest against a raid by Ecuadorian authorities on the Mexican embassy in Quito.
Maduro and other presidents attending a virtual meeting of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States expressed support for Mexico’s demand that the United Nations suspend Ecuador from the world body following the raid of April 5. But Maduro was the only one to announce the closure of diplomatic outposts and the recall of staff.
“The condemnation was unanimous, total, absolute,” Maduro said, referring to the excoriation sparked by Ecuador’s decision. “No one in this world today comes to defend this barbaric act.”
Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa ordered authorities to raid the Mexican embassy to arrest the country’s former vice president Jorge Glas, a convicted criminal and fugitive who had been living there since December. Mexico granted him asylum hours before police found Glas in a room and took him out.
This extraordinarily unusual use of force was immediately condemned by governments around the world, as diplomatic premises are considered foreign and “inviolable” territory under the Vienna Treaties.
Noboa, who did not attend Tuesday’s meeting, said last week that he authorized the raid “to protect national security.” His government argued that Glas was wanted for his criminal convictions for corruption and not for political reasons and accused Mexico of violating the Vienna Treaties by granting him asylum.
Mexico severed diplomatic relations with Ecuador immediately after the raid and recalled its diplomatic mission. He hoped to use the CELAC meeting to bring together a united front to defend his cause, both at the UN and before the International Court of Justice.
Honduran President Xiomara Castro, who currently heads CELAC, opened Tuesday’s meeting by reading a proposed statement condemning Ecuador’s actions. She then presented a video showing Ecuadorian authorities breaking into the Mexican embassy, accompanied by dramatic music.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador followed, reiterating his demand that Ecuador be suspended from the UN until it apologizes and promises never to do it again.
“If we don’t do it, we won’t be able to live in a world governed by norms, by laws,” López Obrador said. “We would live in the world of gorillas.”
The Mexican president cited Augusto Pinochet, who led Chile from 1973 to 1990, and said that even Pinochet did not attack the Mexican embassy when Chilean dissidents sought refuge there. “Pinochet did not dare invade our embassy, this formidable dictator,” López Obrador said.
Maduro said he had ordered all diplomatic personnel to return to Venezuela “until international law is expressly restored in Ecuador.”
Maduro said Glas, who is currently being held in a maximum security prison in the port city of Guayaquil, “must be returned to the Mexican embassy and have his political asylum recognized.”
Noboa drew additional criticism for not showing up at the virtual CELAC meeting. As leaders questioned his decision, he posted a video on Instagram promoting improved law enforcement infrastructure and another announcing an emergency declaration covering the country’s power sector amid power outages several hours in Quito.
“He should have shown himself and assumed his responsibilities in front of Ecuador, in front of Latin America, in front of the Caribbean, in front of the world and he did not show his face,” Maduro said. “I can say from Venezuela that he hid and the Ecuadorian people should know that.”
The Venezuelan embassy in Quito appeared closed on Tuesday. People working on paperwork remained outside, along with journalists, unable to get answers from embassy staff.
Mexico’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Venezuela’s announcement.
Under Maduro’s eleven-year presidency, more than 7.7 million Venezuelans left their home country and most settled elsewhere in Latin America and the Caribbean. Ecuador has the sixth largest concentration of Venezuelan migrants.
Ecuadorian officials and nongovernmental organizations that help migrants estimate that 475,000 Venezuelans live in Ecuador. Among them, more than 231,000 live there permanently and legally, according to the 2023 Ecuadorian census.
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