Mexico breaks diplomatic ties with Ecuador after police storm embassy

Mexico is severing diplomatic ties with Ecuador after police raided a Mexican Embassy to arrest a former Ecuadorian Vice-President Jorge Glas.

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador called Glas' detention an “authoritarian act” and “a flagrant violation of international law and the sovereignty of Mexico."

Ecuadorian police forced their way into the embassy in the capital, Quito, to arrest Glas, who had been residing there since December.

Jorge Glas had been Ecuador's vice-president between 2013 and 2017 and was relieved of his duties after having corruption charges levelled against him. Ecuadorian authorities are still investigating more allegations against him.

He was taken from the attorney general's office to a detention facility in an armored vehicle followed by a convoy of military and police vehicles.

People who had gathered outside the prosecutor's office yelled “strength” as the vehicles began to move.

“This is not possible. It cannot be. This is crazy,” Roberto Canseco, head of the Mexican consular section in Quito, told local press while standing outside the embassy. “I am very worried because they could kill him. There is no basis to do this. This is totally outside the norm.”

Defending its decision, Ecuador's presidency said in a statement: “Ecuador is a sovereign nation and we are not going to allow any criminal to stay free.”

Alicia Bárcena, Mexico's secretary of foreign relations, posted on the social platform X that a number of diplomats suffered injuries during the break-in, adding that it violated the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.

Diplomatic premises are considered “inviolable” under the Vienna treaties and local law enforcement agencies are not allowed to enter without the permission of the ambassador.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange lived inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London for seven years because British police could not enter to arrest him.

Bárcena said that Mexico would take the case to the International Court of Justice “to denounce Ecuador’s responsibility for violations of international law.” She also said Mexican diplomats were only waiting for the Ecuadorian government to offer the necessary guarantees for their return home.

Ecuador’s Foreign Ministry and Ecuador’s Ministry of the Interior did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Mexican Embassy in Quito remained under heavy police guard late Friday.

A day earlier, tensions between the two countries escalated after Mexico's president made statements that Ecuador considered “very unfortunate” about last year's election, won by Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa.

In reaction, the Ecuadorian government declared the Mexican ambassador persona non grata.

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