Mexico Breaks Ties With Ecuador After Embassy in Quito Stormed

Ecuadorian police special forces attempt to enter the Mexican embassy in Quito to arrest Ecuador’s former Vice President Jorge Glas, on April 5.

(Bloomberg) -- Mexico ended diplomatic relations with Ecuador after police stormed its embassy in Quito where former Ecuadorian Vice President Jorge Glas had been sheltering and detained him.

Mexican Foreign Minister Alicia Barcena announced the “immediate breaking” of ties, citing a “flagrant violation” of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. The embassy's Mexican personnel suffered injuries, she said.

The raid occurred hours after Mexico granted political asylum to Glas, who had been in the embassy since December due to an arrest warrant against him from Ecuadorian authorities. Mexico's Foreign Affairs Ministry had earlier said it rejected the increased presence of Ecuadorian police agents outside its embassy and asked for its sovereignty to be respected.

Glas fled to the embassy last year after chat messages published by Ecuador's Prosecutor General's office suggested that a drug trafficker bribed a judge to obtain his early release while serving a conviction for graft.

Ecuador had declared Mexico's ambassador to the country, Raquel Serur Smeke, “persona non grata,” on Thursday. The Ecuadorian foreign ministry said the move was a result of Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's recent and “very unfortunate” comments on Ecuador's 2023 election and the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio.

In late 2022, AMLO, as the president is known, expressed support for Peru's former leader Pedro Castillo, granted asylum to his family and said he was the victim of a “coup.” That sparked tensions with Peru's President Dina Boluarte, who took office after Castillo was ousted and arrested for illegally trying to dissolve congress and rule by decree.

--With assistance from Dale Quinn.

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