The ambassador leaves, and her team with her. Two days after the police raid against Mexico’s diplomatic representation in Quito which sparked international disapproval, Mexican diplomatic staff left Ecuador. Eighteen people, diplomats and members of their families, left this Sunday, April 7 for Mexico aboard a commercial flight, the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Saturday. Among them are the ambassador, Raquel Serur – who had been declared “persona non grata» by Ecuador – and the head of the diplomatic mission, Roberto Canseco. All were accompanied to the airport by staff from “friendly and allied countries» who proposed to “watch over” their “integrity», Details the ministry.
On Friday, Ecuadorian police burst into the Mexican embassy to arrest former Ecuadorian vice-president Jorge Glas, accused of corruption, who had taken refuge there. An unprecedented intrusion into the world in recent history, which has been condemned by left-wing governments in Latin America, from Brazil to Venezuela to Chile, and even by the Argentina of the ultraliberal president, Javier Milei. Most of them cited the Vienna Convention, which guarantees the inviolability of embassies.
“Flagrant violation of international law”
UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Saturday:alarm» by the raid, believing that any violation of diplomatic precincts “jeopardizes the pursuit of normal international relations», According to its spokesperson. Honduran President Xiomara Castro, who holds the temporary presidency of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), called for an emergency meeting on Monday. The United States – which condemns “any violation of the Vienna Convention» – encouraged Mexico and Ecuador “to resolve their disputes in accordance with international standards“, according to a State Department spokesperson.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador denounced a “flagrant violation of international law and the sovereignty of Mexico”, and said he intended to take the case to the International Court of Justice. In the process, the executive announced the immediate severance of diplomatic relations with Ecuador, followed on Saturday by Nicaragua. In Mexico City on Saturday, tension was high and around fifty people demonstrated in front of the Ecuadorian embassy, shouting “fascist“. As for the Mexican embassy in Quito, it was surrounded by police on Saturday. The national flag was removed from its flagpole in the building’s courtyard.
Quito denounced interference
Jorge Glas, 54, was transferred to a high-security prison in Guayaquil, in southwest Ecuador, according to government sources. Mexico granted him asylum on Friday but he had taken refuge in the embassy since December 17. Quito had described as“illegal” the Mexican decision, denounced “abuse of immunities and privileges” granted to the embassy and interference in its internal affairs. The granting of asylum came the day after Ecuador’s decision to expel the Mexican ambassador to Quito, following criticism by the Mexican president over the conduct of the 2023 Ecuadorian presidential election.
Jorge Glas, vice-president between 2013 and 2017 under former socialist president Rafael Correa (2007-2017), is accused of having embezzled public funds intended for the reconstruction of coastal cities after an earthquake in 2016. In another case , he was sentenced in 2017 to six years in prison for corruption in a vast scandal involving the Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht. He was released last November.
Update Sunday April 7 at 5:40 p.m. with the effective departure of Mexican personnel from Ecuador.