Ecuadorean authorities arrested former Vice President Jorge Glas on Friday evening, seizing him from the Mexican embassy and prompting Mexico to suspend bilateral relations.
Glas, convicted twice for corruption, had been holed up in the embassy in Quito since seeking political asylum in December, arguing he was being persecuted by the attorney general’s office.
Police forcefully entered Mexico’s embassy in Quito before making the arrest, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador posted on X. The Ecuadorean president’s office said in a statement it had arrested Glas.
Lopez Obrador said he had instructed Mexico’s foreign minister to suspend diplomatic ties with Ecuador, calling the arrest a violation of international law and Mexican sovereignty.
Earlier, Mexico has granted political asylum to former Ecuadorean Vice President Jorge Glas. The decision came a day after Ecuador’s government made Mexico’s ambassador persona non grata amid growing tensions between the two countries. The ministry had invoked the principle of “non-intervention” in the affairs of other countries and the Vienna Convention as grounds for the departure of the Mexican ambassador. Mexico back then had not asked the Ecuadorian ambassador to leave the country.
Ecuadorean authorities had sought permission from Mexico to enter the embassy and arrest Glas, who was sentenced to six years in prison in 2017 after he was found guilty of receiving bribes from Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht in exchange for awarding it government contracts.
The Mexican president had commented on the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, who was killed in the run up to an election in August 2023. Villavicencio was killed at a rally in Quito, by a group of heavily armed men. He had been known for denouncing major cases of corruption.
In its Thursday statement, Ecuador’s Foreign Ministry said that the South American country was “still grieving” Villavicencio’s death.
Source: Reuters
