On Friday night, diplomatic relations between Mexico and Ecuador dramatically imploded after Ecuadorian police burst into Mexico’s embassy in Quito and arrested Jorge Glas, Ecuador’s former vice president
Diplomatic relations between Mexico and Ecuador dramatically imploded after Ecuadorian police burst into Mexico’s embassy in Quito and arrested Jorge Glas, Ecuador’s former vice president.
Glas, arrested late Friday, had been convicted on charges of bribery and corruption and remains under investigation for other potential crimes. Following the arrest, leaders from across the Americas voiced outrage at the incident and Mexico’s president announced he was breaking diplomatic ties with Ecuador.
But in a region that’s no stranger to political explosions, what has provoked such fierce outrage?
International law experts and leaders across the region have said that the move violated long-established international laws that few rulers have dared to breach. It’s almost an unprecedented act. To date, there are only a tiny handful of cases of raids on embassies on the books.
By forcing their way into the Mexican embassy to make the arrest, Ecuadorian police effectively intruded onto Mexican sovereign territory, said Natalia Saltalamacchia, a professor on international relations at the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico. Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador called the break-in “a flagrant violation of international law and the sovereignty of Mexico.”
The law Saltalamacchia, López Obrador and other leaders are citing is an accord dating back to 1963 known as the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.
