Mexico and Ecuador are experiencing their most tense hours due to Jorge Glas, one of the most important Ecuadorian politicians of the last 20 years. First vice president with Rafael Correa and Lenín Moreno later, he came to deal with oil resources in a country that achieved dizzying development due to the money that rained down on it from crude oil. He was one of the most visible faces of the movement that was generated around Correa, a populist and charismatic leader who claimed that he was leading his country to 21st century socialism. However, Glas fell into disgrace for three corruption cases in which the Prosecutor's Office involved him. He considers this to be a judicial persecution of his opponents, who are now in power. For this reason, he took refuge in the Mexican Embassy since December 17, waiting to receive the status of political refugee, which was finally granted to him on Friday, hours before he was forcibly removed from the diplomatic legation. This has been the beginning of a high-flying diplomatic mess that has aroused the ire of all of America.
Glas hoped to access a safe space, far from the hammer of justice, like the one where Correa finds himself, asylum in Belgium. But the former vice president's immunity was a mirage. The Ecuadorian police, following the instructions of President Daniel Noboa, surrounded the Mexican Embassy on Friday night and, after an hour of tension and confusion, began an assault. The agents broke down doors and some gates that give access to the garden and searched the building until they found Glas, who witnessed, perplexed, his capture and the violent way in which he was taken away. The agents shook and shook off Roberto Canseco, the head of the Mexican consular section, who tried to stop the agents on his own. The diplomat ended up on the ground, desperate and helpless, and watched as a caravan of vans with tinted windows took Glas away. His time at liberty was over.
The politician refused to be Correismo's candidate in the 2023 presidential elections, which Noboa won with a business speech aimed at millennials and who wanted to demonstrate that Ecuadorian socialism was buried. His Government has locked up Glas, who spent the night in the Flagrant Unit of the Prosecutor's Office in the capital, Quito. At dawn, he was transferred on an air force plane to Guayaquil, where another contingent of police and soldiers were waiting for him to take him to the prison known as La Roca, a maximum security prison.
The former vice president was treated like a dangerous criminal who could escape at any moment. Inside the prison facilities he underwent a medical evaluation. In images issued by the Government, you can see him entering the prison with a sad expression, shackles on his hands, a tracksuit and a gray sweatshirt, while he is guided by a police officer by the arm. La Roca has capacity for one hundred prisoners, each of them lives in an individual cell. A few months ago it housed the leaders of the gangs on which Noboa has declared war after the internal security crisis. A presidential declaration allowed soldiers to provide security on the streets and take control in prisons. The president, only 36 years old, applies strong-arm recipes in the manner of Nayib Bukele in El Salvador. This violation of Mexican sovereignty puts internal security and severe punishment for those who violate the laws above respect for human rights.
Mexico has witnessed this measure of force with surprise. The Mexican Government had requested hours before the assault for safe passage to Ecuador so that Glas could get on a plane to Mexico City. After the forced invasion, the Mexican president, Andrés López Obrador, broke relations with Quito for being “a flagrant violation of international law.” Only Nicaragua has followed the example of the Mexican Executive so far.
The Mexican Foreign Minister, Alicia Bárcena, pointed out this Saturday that, on instructions from the president, diplomatic personnel have been taken out of the country by commercial airlines in an operation that has been supported by friendly embassies. This Saturday, López Obrador thanked the solidarity of the regional community that has condemned the assault and the violation of international treaties. The president has also called on Mexicans to “behave with great caution” and avoid “chaos and provocations.” Some supporters of his Administration have called for a protest outside the Ecuadorian embassy in Mexico City. The Mexican head of the Interior has advised against attending the site to prevent pressure from rising.
The regional repudiation of the assault has been almost unanimous. The Organization of American States (OAS); the Colombian president, Gustavo Petro; the Chilean, Gabriel Boric; and even the Argentine, Javier Milei, who has had off-color exchanges with López Obrador, have taken the Mexican side and denounced the flagrant violation of international law committed by Ecuador.
At the center of everything is Glas, who has two sentences. He spent five years in prison and was released after his lawyers obtained precautionary measures. The last of these was revoked by the Constitutional Court, which forces him to return to prison for eight more years. In addition, he adds a new process for embezzlement for which a judge requested preventive detention. To avoid ending up behind bars again, he went to live in the Mexican embassy, a country that considers him politically persecuted. Ecuador, on the other hand, considers him a criminal and that is why it searched for him even under the stones, causing an international conflict. The fate of Jorge Glas has fractured the coexistence of two countries.
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