MEXICO CITY In protest of an incursion by Ecuadorian police on the Mexican embassies in Quito, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on Tuesday ordered the closure of his nation’s embassies and consulates in Ecuador.
Maduro, along with other presidents attending a virtual conference of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, stated that they agreed with Mexico’s request that Ecuador be suspended from the UN due to the raid on April 5. However, Maduro was the only one to declare the closing of diplomatic missions and the staff recall.
Maduro remarked, “The condemnation has been unanimous, total, absolute,” alluding to the criticism Ecuador’s action has received. “No one today in this world comes out to defend this barbaric act.”
President Daniel Noboa of Ecuador gave the order for law enforcement to invade the Mexican Embassy in order to apprehend former vice president Jorge Glas, a wanted man who had been living there since December. Hours before police discovered Glas in a bedroom and hauled him out, Mexico had awarded him refuge.
Governments all across the globe swiftly condemned the incredibly uncommon use of force because, according to the Vienna protocols, diplomatic facilities are “inviolable” and deemed foreign territory.
Noboa, who was not present at the meeting on Tuesday, stated the previous week that he gave the raid permission “to protect national security.” His government claims that Mexico violated the Vienna Treaties by offering Glas asylum, claiming that he was sought for his criminal convictions related to corruption rather than political motives.
Following the raid, Mexico quickly recalled its diplomatic mission to Ecuador and broke diplomatic ties. It intended to present a united front for its case before the International Court of Justice and the United Nations at the CELAC gathering.
The current head of CELAC, President Xiomara Castro of Honduras, began the conference on Tuesday by reading a draft statement denouncing Ecuador’s actions. With dramatic music playing, she proceeded to show a video of Ecuadorian authorities breaking into the Mexican Embassy.
Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the president of Mexico, spoke next, restating his demand that Ecuador be expelled from the UN until it apologized and vowed never to do it again.
We will not be able to survive in a society governed by rules and conventions if we don’t take this action, according to López Obrador. “We would be living in the world of the gorillas.”
Augusto Pinochet, the dictator of Chile from 1973 to 1990, was mentioned by the Mexican president, who said that Pinochet himself did not raid Mexico’s embassy when Chilean dissidents sought safety there. “That fearsome dictator Pinochet didn’t dare to invade our embassy,” declared López Obrador.
All diplomatic staff are to return to Venezuela, according to Maduro, “until international law is expressly restored in Ecuador.”
Maduro declared that Glas, who is presently detained in the port city of Guayaquil at a maximum-security facility, “must be returned to the Mexican embassy and have his political asylum granted.”
Noboa received more backlash for missing the virtual meeting of CELAC. Leaders questioned his choice, but in the midst of Quito’s hours-long power outages, he uploaded two videos to Instagram: one endorsing upgrades to the nation’s law enforcement infrastructure, and the other declaring an emergency affecting the nation’s electrical sector.
“He should have shown up and assumed responsibility for himself in front of Ecuador, in front of Latin America, in front of the Caribbean, in front of the world and he has not shown his face,” Maduro stated. “I can say from Venezuela that he has gone into hiding and the people of Ecuador should know it.”
On Tuesday, the Venezuelan Embassy in Quito seemed to be closed. Reporters and those attempting to handle paperwork stayed outside, unable to obtain information.
An inquiry about Venezuela’s announcement was not immediately answered by Mexico’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
More than 7.7 million Venezuelans have fled their nation during Maduro’s 11 years in office; the majority have made their homes in Latin America and the Caribbean. The sixth-highest concentration of Venezuelan migrants is found in Ecuador.
Ecuadorian officials and humanitarian organizations that aid migrants believe that 475,000 Venezuelans dwell in Ecuador. As per the Ecuadorian census of 2023, about 231,000 people are legally and continuously residing in that country.
