The details that are coming to light about the assault on the Mexican Embassy in Quito compromise the Government of Ecuador more and more every day. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador released a video from security cameras on Tuesday, in which you can see how a dozen armed police officers mistreat diplomatic staff and forcibly take away former Vice President Jorge Glas. This Wednesday, the president published a new video in which he shows more images of the break-in and includes the testimonies given by the Embassy workers about what happened on the night of April 5. Roberto Canseco, the head of the Foreign Ministry in Ecuador, who was seen struggling to avoid arrest and being attacked by the security forces, still relates with bewilderment what he experienced. “You feel somewhat defeated, helpless,” says another of the legation workers.
The Embassy in Quito had been under siege by the Ecuadorian police for hours that night. Tensions were at their highest point since December, when Rafael Correa's former number two decided to take refuge in the Mexican headquarters. López Obrador had suggested that President Daniel Noboa's electoral victory had occurred solely as a consequence of the assassination of candidate Fernando Villavicencio. Ecuador had responded by declaring ambassador Raquel Serur persona non grata. The leader of the diplomatic mission was already outside, they had given her 72 hours to leave the country. Shortly before the assault, Mexico finally granted Glas political asylum and requested safe passage to allow him to board a flight to Mexico City.
But Noboa did not allow that to happen. Instead, he ordered the invasion of the Embassy, a sacred site for international diplomacy, and the arrest of Glas. “They were waiting for me to come out to proceed, or for us all to come out,” Raquel Serur said in the video released this Wednesday. “I heard a very loud noise, I immediately imagined that they were trying to force their way into the Embassy building,” Canseco said.
Eva Martha Balbuena, administrative head of the Embassy, explained that she understood the seriousness of the situation when they heard the noise of the broken door and saw that it had subdued the guard of the diplomatic headquarters. “I see the guard face down with an intruder who had him under control,” Canseco added. “I move a bookcase to prevent them from entering, in that case, they take me away, they move the bookcase, I resist as much as I can and they take me to the back of the library. “A guard comes in and points a gun at me.” The brutality of the images supports the statements of diplomatic personnel. In a second recording you can see how they beat the head of the Chancellery with riot shields and drag him by force until they defeat him. “When they finally had to leave, I think that's where they hit me in the eye, I have a mark here, because it was with a shield that reached up to my head,” he said.
When the attack began, Balbuena ran to call the Ambassador to inform her what was happening. “In my desperation, I tell her: 'I'm Eva Balbuena, get in touch with the ambassador quickly, move, it's an emergency. And I already told him: 'They just took Engineer Glas, two armored vehicles left.' Serur adds: “He tells me: they entered the embassy, they are taking the minister, they are subduing him. He was describing to me what was happening and I told him: 'What? No, no, it can't be. As?'.
The recording shows how agents take Glas out, carry him through the air, each one holding him by one limb. “I'm running towards the door, outside this door of the library there is a fence, a vehicle was already there, and they were going to put him in that vehicle. It impresses me because it was already inside the Embassy, I didn't understand,” says Canseco, “I can still see them putting him in that vehicle and it starts.” Later they understood that the two armored vans entered through a secondary door.
In the video, the Embassy workers thank the reception that Foreign Minister Alicia Bárcena gave them at the Mexico City airport last weekend. “When she arrives in Mexico she feels that she is different, she feels at home,” says Canseco, “it is an extraordinary feeling.” Distressed by what they had to live through, Balbuena concludes: “I have been in the foreign service for many years and yes, for me it has been the saddest moment of my career.”
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