MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Celac joins worldwide condemnation of Ecuador's actions against Mexican Embassy

Xiomara Castro summoned regional leaders to review Ecuador's police raid against the diplomatic mission in breach of international law

Leaders of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac) Tuesday agreed to condemn Ecuador's April 5 storming of the Mexican Embassy in Quito to abduct former Vice President Jorge Glas, who had sought asylum there after being convicted on corruption charges.

”We are grateful for the solidarity of the majority of the peoples and governments of Latin America and the Caribbean. And we also want to propose, if they consider it viable and feasible, that they join us in signing the complaint before the International Court of Justice (ICJ),” Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) told the attendees of the virtual encounter summoned and chaired by Honduras' Xiomara Castro, who holds the bloc's rotating presidency,

AMLO insisted that the actions undertaken by President Daniel Noboa's law enforcement forces inside a diplomatic mission were in breach of international standards. The Mexican leader also admitted that he envisioned Ecuador expelled from the United Nations until an apology is offered to the Mexican government.

Castro instructed Foreign Minister Enrique Reina to review the case with her country's Chargé d'Affaires in Quito. Reina acknowledged on X that Castro's initiative was to uphold “respect for International Law given the violation of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and the 1954 Caracas Convention on Asylum by Ecuador at the Mexican Embassy in Quito, which should not become a disastrous precedent in the international system and that these events should not be repeated.”

Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro strongly criticized Noboa for not showing up at the virtual gathering and announced that his country too was pulling its Ambassador from Quito.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva also expressed his support of AMLO and suggested a commission be created to check on Glas' health, who has been reported to have started a hunger strike while imprisoned in his country.

Earlier this week, Noboa admitted from Miami (Florida, US) in an interview with an Australian outlet that he did not regret ordering Glas' capture although it meant violating diplomatic conventions. He insisted he was on the “right side of history” despite worldwide condemnation.

Noboa also argued that the Organization of American States (OAS) had said that some governments used their embassies as a façade for political refugees which amounted to sheer “impunity.” The Ecuadorean leader said Glas had had his day in court when he was tried, found guilty, and convicted. ”He (Glas) had a sentence and has to be in jail. That was the decision of our Court of Justice. I have no regrets,“ Noboa stressed.

In his view, Mexico was the first to violate Ecuadorean sovereignty when assistance was provided to a fugitive and therefore ”we had to make a decision.“ Noboa added that Glas intended to flee Ecuador from the diplomatic mission. ”Justice is not negotiated,” Noboa also pointed out.