Mexico cuts diplomatic ties with Ecuador over police raid on its embassy

Mexico has cut diplomatic relations with Ecuador after police broke into the Mexican embassy in Quito to arrest former Ecuadorian vice president Jorge Glas.

Glas, who has been convicted twice for corruption, has been living in the Mexican embassy in Quito since seeking political asylum there in December.

Just hours after the Mexican government granted Glas political asylum on Friday, Ecuadorian police raided the embassy and arrested the former vice president.

The Ecuador president’s office confirmed in a statement that it had arrested Glas, who was vice president between 2013 and 2017 and found guilty of receiving bribes from a Brazilian construction firm.

“I am very worried because they could kill him. There is no basis to do this, this is totally outside the norm,” Roberto Canseco, head of the Mexican consular section in Quito, told local media.

Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador called the move a “flagrant violation of international law and the sovereignty of Mexico”.

“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,” the Mexican president said.

Alicia Bárcena, Mexico’s foreign secretary, posted on X that Mexican diplomats were also injured during the raid.

“Given the flagrant violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and the injuries suffered by Mexican diplomatic personnel in Ecuador, Mexico announces the immediate breaking of diplomatic relations with Ecuador,” Ms Barcena said.

The arrest comes after a week of escalating tensions between Mexico and Ecuador after the Mexican president made statements about the most recent Ecuadorian elections.

Ecuador declared Mexico’s ambassador in Quito persona non grata on Thursday, after which the embasy announced that it was granting asylum to Glas.

“The right to asylum is sacred and we are acting in full consistency with international conventions, granting asylum to Jorge Glas. I trust that the government of Ecuador will have safe passage as soon as possible,” Ms Barcena said on Friday.

Ecuador’s presidency argued that Mexico’s asylum offer was illegal and that Mexico “abused the immunities and privileges granted to the diplomatic mission that housed the former vice president, and granting diplomatic asylum contrary to the conventional legal framework.”

Glas has said his convictions are politically motivated – a claim Ecuador’s government denies.