The Government of Mexico announced this Friday that it will give political asylum to Ecuadorian Jorge Glas, vice president during the mandate of Rafael Correa (2007-2017) and who is being prosecuted for alleged embezzlement of funds, after the expulsion of his ambassador in Quito, Raquel Serur.
“After an exhaustive analysis of the information received, the Government of Mexico has decided to grant political asylum to Mr. Jorge David Glas Espinel, who is currently in the Mexican Embassy in Quito,” said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE) in a statement.
Likewise, he noted that this decision will be officially communicated to the Ecuadorian authorities along with the request that they grant the respective safe passage, in accordance with the 1954 Diplomatic Asylum Convention, an international treaty to which Mexico and Ecuador are party states.
The asylum for Glas, who has been in the Mexican Embassy in Quito since December, is announced after Ecuador declared the Mexican ambassador persona 'non grata' on Thursday in response to comments by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador about the assassination of the former candidate presidential Fernando Villavicencio.
In this regard, the Foreign Ministry reproached the actions of Daniel Noboa's Government by specifying that it instructed Serur to return to Mexico to “protect his safety and integrity.”
He pointed out that at all times during her administration, the ambassador adhered to her actions to the foreign policy principles established in the Constitution and international law, and denounced that declaring her 'non grata' “clearly has a political nature.”
Likewise, he reported that now the Mexican Embassy in Ecuador will be in charge of Roberto Canseco, current head of the mission's Foreign Ministry, and will continue to “operate normally.”
“Mexico regrets this diplomatic decision that it considers disproportionate,” he emphasized.
The SRE rejected the increase in the presence of Ecuadorian police forces outside its diplomatic headquarters in Quito because, it said, it constitutes “clear harassment” of the embassy and a “flagrant violation” of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
“It is evident that these actions do not correspond to the usual practices of surveillance and protection of diplomatic properties, based on the rules that regulate good coexistence between nations,” he noted.
Finally, he demanded that Ecuador respect the country's sovereignty, not violate the right to asylum and comply with its international obligations.
In addition, he held Ecuador responsible for any damage to the diplomatic headquarters, its accredited personnel and any person who is under the protection of the Mexican State in that country.
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