Ecuador police storms Mexican embassy in Quito to arrest former Vice President Jorge Glas

Quito [Ecuador], April 6 Ecuadorian police stormed the Mexican embassy in Quito to arrest former vice president Jorge Glas, who was seeking asylum there, CNN reported.

Mexico has criticised the Ecuadorian police's action on Friday terming it "an outrage against international law."

The Mexican Foreign Minister announced that Mexico would end its diplomatic ties with Ecuador after the arrest of former Ecuadorian Vice President Jorge Glas, according to the CNN report.

The ties between Mexico and Ecuador have been strained after the Latin American nation announced its decision to give political asylum to Jorge Glas. He served as Vice President under Mexico's former President Rafael Correa between 2013 and 2017.

Glas has been convicted twice on corruption charges. However, he has said that he is the subject of political persecution and had been sheltering inside the Mexican embassy in Quito.

On Friday, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said that he had been informed that "police from Ecuador forcibly entered" the Mexican embassy and took Glas. He called the action a "flagrant violation of international law and the sovereignty of Mexico.

In a statement posted on X, Obrador stated, "Alicia Barcena, our Secretary of Foreign Affairs, has just informed me that police from Ecuador forcibly entered our embassy and detained the former vice president of that country who was a refugee and processing asylum due to the persecution and harassment he faces."

"This is a flagrant violation of international law and the sovereignty of Mexico, which is why I have instructed our chancellor to issue a statement regarding this authoritarian act, proceed legally and immediately declare the suspension of diplomatic relations with the government of Mexico. Ecuador," he added.

The Ecuadorian government has confirmed the arrest of Jorge Glas in a post on social media platform X. The Ecuadorian government said, Glas was "sentenced to imprisonment by the Ecuadorian justice system," the statement from Ecuador's government read, and was "arrested tonight and placed under the orders of the competent authorities." He had been granted diplomatic asylum "contrary to the conventional legal framework."

Speaking to CNN, Roberto Canseco, head of chancellery and policy affairs of the Mexican Embassy, said, "What you have just seen is an outrage against international law and the inviolability of the Mexican Embassy in Ecuador" and added that the arrest of Glas was "totally unacceptable and barbarism." He further said, "It is impossible for them to violate the diplomatic premises as they have done."

Mexico's Secretary of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Alicia Barcena, said that Mexico is breaking diplomatic ties with Ecuador and is immediately removing all diplomatic personnel from the country, CNN reported, citing CNNE. She announced that Mexico plans to register a complaint with the International Court of Justice to criticise the Ecuadorian police's actions.

Barcena said that there was no prior contact with Ecuador's foreign ministry about the arrest. She further said that Canseco was physically attacked during the arrest.

Adding to current tensions between Mexico and Ecuador was Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's apparent criticism of Ecuador's recent elections, according to CNN report.

He said that the 2023 run-off vote took place in a "very strange" manner, suggesting that presidential candidates had used the media, presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio's assassination and overall violence in their favour during the election campaign.

The rift between two nations led to a series of diplomatic provocations this week, including Ecuador rejecting Mexico's ambassador to the country, who was declared "persona non grata."

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