QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Global condemnation of Ecuador’s government over its decision to storm the Mexican embassy snowballed Sunday with more presidents and other leaders expressing disapproval, shock and dismay.
The criticism came as Mexico’s ambassador and other staff were scheduled to arrive in Mexico City after departing from the Ecuadorian capital, Quito, on a commercial flight. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador cut diplomatic ties with Ecuador immediately after Friday’s attack, which international law experts, presidents and diplomats said violated long-standing international agreements.
Police stormed through the outer doors of the Mexican Embassy in Quito to make the arrest Jorge Glass, who had been living there since December. He then sought asylum is accused of corruption.
Mexico plans to challenge the attack at the World Court in The Hague.
The Spanish Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Sunday: “Forcible entry into the Mexican embassy in Quito constitutes a violation of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. We call for respect for international law and harmony between Mexico and Ecuador, brother countries of Spain and the members of the Ibero-American community.
A day earlier, the Organization of American States in a statement reminded its members, which include Ecuador and Mexico, of their obligation not to “invoke norms of domestic law to justify non-compliance with their international obligations.”
US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said, “The United States condemns any violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and takes very seriously the obligation of host countries under international law to respect the inviolability of diplomatic missions.” He urged the two sides to resolve their differences.
Honduran President Xiomara Castro, writing to X, characterized the attack as “an intolerable act for the international community” and “a violation of the sovereignty of the Mexican state and international law” because it “ignores the historic and fundamental right of asylum.”
Diplomatic premises are considered foreign territory and are “inviolable” under the Vienna Treaties and law enforcement agencies of the host country are not allowed to enter without the permission of the ambassador. Asylum seekers have lived for days to years in embassies around the world, including the Ecuadorian one in London, where they are housed WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange for seven years as the British police could not enter to arrest him.
Police storm the Mexican embassy in Quito, Ecuador, Friday, April 5, 2024. The action came hours after the Mexican government granted political asylum to Ecuador’s former vice president Jorge Glass. (AP Photo/David Bustillos)
Alicia Barcena, Mexico’s foreign affairs minister, posted Friday on the social media platform X that a number of diplomats had suffered injuries during the intrusion.
Barcena said Mexico would take the case to the International Court of Justice “to condemn Ecuador’s responsibility for violations of international law.” She also recalled Mexican diplomats.
A VOICE WAS TAKEN IN PRISON
On Saturday, Glass was taken from the attorney general’s office in Quito to the port city of Guayaquil, where he will remain in custody at a maximum security prison. People who had gathered outside the prosecutor’s office shouted “force” as he left in a convoy of police and military vehicles.
Glass’s attorney, Sonia Vera, told The Associated Press that officers burst into his room and he resisted when they tried to put his hands behind his back. She said the officers then “knocked him to the floor, kicked him in the head, in the spine, in the legs, in the arms” and when he “couldn’t walk, they dragged him out.”
Vera said the defense team was not allowed to speak with Glass while he was in the prosecutor’s office and is now working on a habeas corpus petition.
Authorities are investigating Glass for alleged wrongdoing during his stewardship of reconstruction efforts after strong earthquake in 2016 which killed hundreds of people. He was convicted of bribery and corruption in other cases.
Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Gabriela Sommerfeld told reporters on Saturday that the decision to enter the embassy was made by President Daniel Noboa after assessing Glas’ “imminent flight risk” and exhausting all options for diplomatic dialogue with Mexico.
Mexico granted Glass asylum hours before the attack. Sommerfeld said “it is not legal to grant asylum to people convicted of ordinary crimes and by competent courts.”
People protest outside the Ecuadorian embassy in Mexico City, Saturday, April 6, 2024. Mexico’s government cut diplomatic ties with Ecuador after police stormed the Mexican embassy to arrest a former vice president of Ecuador. (AP Photo/Ginnette Riquelme)
ECUADOR’S PRESIDENT RUNS FOR ELECTION NEXT YEAR
Noboa became president of Ecuador last year as the nation struggled unprecedented drug-trafficking crime. He declared the country in “internal armed conflict” in January and named 20 drug trafficking gangs as terrorist groups that the military was authorized to “neutralize” under international humanitarian law.
Will Freeman, a fellow in Latin American studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, said the decision to send police to the Mexican embassy raises concerns about the steps Noboa is willing to take to seek re-election. His term expires in 2025 as he was elected only to complete the term of former President Guillermo Lasso.
“I really hope Noboa doesn’t address Bukele again,” Freeman said, referring to El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, whose anti-crime policies were strongly criticized by human rights organizations. “It means he has less respect for the rule of law in order to boost his popularity before the election.”
Freeman added that whether Glass abused diplomatic protection was a “separate matter” from the decision to send police to the embassy.
“We see such a pattern in Latin America with politicians abusing embassies and foreign jurisdictions, not to escape prosecution, but to escape responsibility,” he said.
The Mexican embassy in Quito remained under heavy police guard after the attack – the boiling point of recent tensions between Mexico and Ecuador.
Vera, Glass’s lawyer, said he feared “something might happen to him” while in custody, given the history of the country’s detention centers, where hundreds of people have died during violent riots in the last few years. Those killed during the arrest included some suspects in last year’s assassination of a presidential candidate.
“In Ecuador, going to prison is effectively a death sentence,” Vera said. “We believe that the international political and legal person responsible for the life of Jorge Glass is President Daniel Noboa Azin.”
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Garcia Cano reported from Mexico City. Associated Press writers Gonzalo Solano in Quito and Megan Janecki in Mexico City contributed to this report.
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