QUITO: Ecuador was lambasted across Latin America on Saturday after security forces stormed the Mexican embassy in Quito to arrest corruption-accused former vice president Jorge Glas, who had been granted political asylum there.
Special forces personnel surrounded the embassy building with a battering ram, and at least one scaled the walls, in a nearly unheard-of raid on diplomatic premises that are deemed inviolable sovereign territory.
The incident Friday night led Mexico to quickly sever diplomatic relations with Ecuador.
Flagrant Violation of Sovereignty of Mexico
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador wrote on X that this is a flagrant violation of the sovereignty of Mexico and international law.
Nicaragua followed suit and searing rebukes poured in from governments across the political spectrum, including Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Argentina, Peru, Cuba, Bolivia and Venezuela.
Lopez Obrador said authorities forcibly entered the embassy to arrest Glas, who is wanted on graft charges and had been at the embassy since December 2023 before being granted asylum on Friday.
He said he would file a complaint against Ecuador at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
The Vienna Convention, a treaty governing international ties, states that a country cannot intrude upon an embassy on its territory.
