Mexico Breaks Diplomatic Ties With Ecuador After Embassy Arrest


Ecuadorean police officers entered the Mexican embassy in Quito on Friday night to arrest Ecuador’s former vice president who had taken refuge there, prompting Mexico to suspend bilateral relations.

Jorge Glas, the former vice president, had been sentenced to prison and there was a warrant out for his arrest before Mexico granted him asylum, Ecuador’s presidential office said in a statement announcing the arrest. Mr. Glas had lived at the embassy since December and was granted political asylum earlier on Friday.

The statement said that “no criminal can be considered politically persecuted.”

The statement, from the office of President Daniel Noboa, added that the arrest had gone forward because Mexico had abused the immunities and privileges granted to the diplomatic mission and that Mr. Glas’s asylum was given “contrary to the conventional legal framework.”

Shortly after the arrest, Mexico’s president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, issued a statement saying that the arrest was a “flagrant violation of international law and the sovereignty of Mexico,” and that the Ecuadorean police had entered the embassy forcibly.

Mexico’s secretary of foreign affairs, Alicia Bárcena Ibarra, declared the breaking of diplomatic relations with Ecuador in a statement, saying that Mexican diplomatic personnel had suffered injuries in the episode.

This is a developing story.





View Original Source Here

You May Also Like

Top US military leaders condemn Capitol siege in rare joint message

America’s top military leaders have taken the unprecedented step of condemning last…

Minnesota calls in National Guard to quell unrest over George Floyd’s death in police custody

MINNEAPOLIS (Reuters) – Minnesota’s governor activated the National Guard on Thursday to…

Trump flies to New York to face criminal charges as mayor warns ‘rabble rousers’ to behave

Donald Trump has left his Florida home to travel to New York…

Gunman bought two assault rifles after police confiscated his shotgun

A teenager who shot dead eight people at a FedEx building in…