Diplomatic Crisis Between Mexico and Ecuador

Colombia has requested that the crisis between Mexico and Ecuador be discussed at the Organization of American States (OAS). For this purpose, along with Bolivia, the government of President Gustavo Petro is requesting an urgent meeting of the Permanent Council of this international organization.

Mexico and Ecuador broke diplomatic relations last weekend after Ecuadorian military forces forcibly entered the Mexican embassy in Quito to capture former Ecuadorian vice-president Jorge Glas. Accused of corruption in his country, Glas had political asylum granted by the government of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

This event caused an unprecedented diplomatic crisis between the two countries involved. Colombia, together with Bolivia, requested the meeting of the international body for this Wednesday, April 10, and it will be one of the two meetings that the OAS has called for this week to address the crisis. The Pan-American Organization, which groups the American states and is presided over by Uruguayan Luis Almagro, unreservedly condemned the assault on the Mexican embassy in Quito and called for respect for international law.

The origin of an unprecedented crisis

The rupture of diplomatic relations between Mexico and Ecuador originated after the assault of the Mexican diplomatic headquarters in the Ecuadorian capital, Quito. The former president of Ecuador, Jorge Glas, an ally of former president Rafael Correa, had taken refuge there. Glas has been formally charged with alleged corruption and must face charges before the Ecuadorian justice system.

Glas, however, claims this is political persecution, for which he requested political asylum in Mexico. The government of Lopez Obrador granted him refugee status on Friday, April 5, and the former Ecuadorian politician entered the Mexican embassy in Quito, expecting to leave the country over the weekend.

The Ecuadorian police intervened to prevent Glas from leaving Ecuador. Jumping the fence that protects the diplomatic compound, the Ecuadorian forces forcibly entered the embassy, overpowering the top Mexican diplomatic representative and capturing Jorge Glas. This serious act, which is a clear violation of international law, is justified by Ecuador as a necessary measure to bring its former vice president to justice.

Two OAS meetings

The first to request an extraordinary meeting of the OAS was Ecuador. This meeting has been set for tomorrow afternoon, Tuesday, April 9, in Washington, USA.. In this first meeting, it was established that the “rules of diplomatic relations and asylum”.

The second meeting, called by Colombia and Bolivia for Wednesday, will address “the violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and its link to the concept of asylum, as well as the injuries suffered by Mexican diplomatic personnel in Ecuador”.

Last Saturday, the Colombian president, Gustavo Petro, had already expressed his condemnation of the police action in the Mexican embassy. “The Vienna Convention and the sovereignty of Mexico in Ecuador have been broken”, wrote the head of state in his social networks.

For Gustavo Petro, “whatever the social and political constructions in each country, it must keep alive the precepts of international law amid the barbarism that advances in the world and the democratic pact within the continent.” In addition, the Colombian president assured that “Colombia respects the universal right to political asylum” while showing his “solidarity to the diplomatic personnel of Mexico in Quito”.

Respect for international standards

The OAS issued a communiqué on Saturday rejecting what happened at the Mexican embassy in Quito the day before. The organization points out that “international law is a standard of conduct for States in their reciprocal relations”. In this sense, the OAS describes as fundamental “the strict compliance by all States to the norms that regulate the protection, respect and inviolability of the premises of diplomatic missions and consular offices, which have been codified in the Vienna Convention”.

With these arguments, the OAS “rejects any action that violates or jeopardizes the inviolability of the premises of diplomatic missions and reiterates the obligation of all States not to invoke norms of domestic law to justify non-compliance with their international obligations”.

In a clear disavowal of the Ecuadorian actions, the organization presided over by Luis Almagro expressed “solidarity with those who were victims of the improper actions that affected the Embassy of Mexico in Ecuador”, recalling that this organization suffered a similar attack in Managua, the capital of Nicaragua. Finally, the OAS recalls that “neither in that case nor in this one is ambiguity admissible, but rather the fullest compliance with International Law”.

Ecuador justifies its action

For its part, the government of President Daniel Noboa justified its action by the legal status of Jorge Glas. For Ecuador “no criminal can be considered a (victim of) political persecution”, justifying that its former vice-president was “convicted with an enforceable sentence and had a warrant issued by the authorities”.

Furthermore, in a communiqué, the Ecuadorian presidency alleged that the country “faces a non-international armed conflict, whose repercussions on democracy and public order will only increase if acts that interfere with the rule of law continue or are condoned”.

The government of Daniel Noboa qualified the obtaining of political asylum for Jorge Glas as an “abuse of immunities and privileges”, assuring that such action was “contrary to the conventional legal framework”, for which reason it was decided to capture the former vice-president, who had taken refuge in the Mexican embassy.