The Ecuadorean police made a rare move by arresting a politician, Jorge Glas, who had sought refuge in the Mexican Embassy in Quito. This action prompted Mexico to suspend diplomatic relations with Ecuador and inflamed tensions between the two countries. Mr. Glas, a former vice president of Ecuador, had been living at the embassy since December and was granted political asylum by Mexico earlier on Friday. The arrest occurred after months of growing tensions between the two nations, in part over Mr. Glas, whom the Ecuadorean authorities consider a fugitive. Both sides have been trading barbs, which escalated this week after the Mexican president appeared to question the legitimacy of Ecuador’s most recent presidential election. The Ecuadorean government on Thursday effectively ordered Mexico’s ambassador to leave, declaring her a “persona non grata.” Mexico condemned that declaration on Friday and also granted Mr. Glas asylum. The Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations allows embassies to be used as sanctuary, making attacks on embassies particularly weighty. There have been only a few cases in which governments have entered diplomatic premises without permission, said Carolina Jiménez Sandoval, the president of the Washington Office on Latin America, a research and advocacy organization based in the United States.
Source: www.nytimes.com
Published on: 2024-04-06 14:42:33