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Ecuadorian police stormed the Mexican Embassy in Quito to arrest former Vice President Jorge Glass.
Mexico has suspended diplomatic ties with Ecuador after police broke into its embassy in Quito and arrested former Ecuadorian Vice President Jorge Glass, who sought political asylum there.
Glass, who was twice convicted of corruption, has been dwelling within the Mexican Embassy since December, claiming he’s being persecuted by Ecuadorian authorities.
Mexico's Overseas Ministry mentioned in an announcement Friday that it had supplied Glass political asylum and requested Ecuador to grant him “secure passage” in a foreign country.
However Ecuadorian particular forces, sporting tactical gear together with bulletproof vests and helmets, pressured their approach into the embassy on Friday evening and arrested Glass.
“Ecuador is a sovereign nation and we won’t let any legal go free,” Ecuador's president wrote in an announcement shortly earlier than the raid.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador wrote in a put up on Twitter that the assault on the embassy and Glass's arrest was an “authoritarian act” and a “gross violation of worldwide regulation and Mexico's sovereignty.”
Lawyer and political commentator Adrián Pérez Salazar mentioned that to many Ecuadorians it appeared like a “travesty of justice” that the convicted former vice chairman was being granted political asylum by Mexico, particularly given that he’s an ally of the Mexican President.
“However the truth that there was a criticism – no less than beneath worldwide regulation – doesn’t justify a forceful breach of the embassy,” Salazar instructed Al Jazeera from Guayaquil, Ecuador.
Mexico will take the case to the ICJ
Mexican Overseas Minister Alicia Bárcena mentioned on Twitter that a number of diplomats had been injured throughout the incident – which she referred to as a violation of the Vienna Conference on Diplomatic Relations.
Mexican diplomatic personnel will go away Ecuador “instantly,” Bárcena mentioned, including that Mexico will enchantment to the Worldwide Court docket of Justice (ICJ) to carry Ecuador accountable for violations of worldwide regulation.
“Worldwide regulation could be very clear that embassies shouldn’t be touched, and no matter justification the Ecuadorian authorities could have, this can be a case the place the top doesn’t justify the means,” Salazar instructed Al Jazeera.
The scenario had worsened a day earlier when the Mexican President made feedback about Ecuador's elections that the South American nation thought of “very unlucky”.
López Obrador commented on the assassination of Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio final 12 months, evaluating it to current violence in Mexico throughout the present election cycle, by which a number of native candidates had been gunned down.
He indicated that main candidate Luisa González in the end misplaced the election due to Villavicencio's homicide and the media hypothesis it generated.
López Obrador additionally took purpose on the “homeowners of media retailers” and people he thought of liable for the “ambiance of violence” all through the election campaigns.
The Ecuadorian authorities subsequently declared Mexican Ambassador Raquel Serur Smeke persona non grata and instructed her to go away the nation “quickly”.
Ecuador has been grappling with a brand new wave of violence since earlier this 12 months, when riots broke out in prisons throughout the nation, legal leaders escaped from custody and masked gunmen stormed a reside tv broadcast and took hostages.