QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Mexico's President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Friday evening he would cut diplomatic ties with Ecuador after police stormed the Mexican embassy in Mexico.
The announcement came after Ecuadorean police officers forced their way into the Mexican embassy in Quito and arrested former Ecuadorian Vice President Jorge Claus, who had sought political asylum there, deepening a diplomatic rift between the two countries.
Klaus, Ecuador's most wanted man, faces investigations for corruption, bribery and more.
Police attempt to enter the Mexican Embassy in Quito, Ecuador, Friday, April 5, 2024, after Mexico granted asylum to former Ecuadorian Vice President Jorge Glass, who took refuge inside the Mexican Embassy in Quito, Ecuador. The police then forced their way into the embassy through another entrance. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)
Police broke down the outer doors of Mexico's diplomatic headquarters in the Ecuadorian capital and entered the main courtyard.
“Ecuador is a sovereign country and we are not going to allow any criminal to go free,” the Ecuadorian presidency wrote in a statement Friday night.
López Obrador called the detention of Claus “a flagrant violation of international law and Mexico's sovereignty” and an “act of tyranny.”
Mexico's foreign affairs secretary, Alicia Barcena, said several diplomats were injured in the incident, which violated the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
Experts observing the arrests pointed out that the move was a bold violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which could drive a permanent rift between the governments of Mexico and Ecuador.
“It's not possible, it can't be, it's crazy,” said Roberto Canseco, head of the Mexican consular unit in Quito, outside the embassy.
Regarding the situation of the former vice-president Klaus and if he is arrested by the general forces, he said: “Yes, I understand that I am very worried because they might kill him; there is no basis for doing this, it is completely out of the norm.
Ecuador's foreign ministry and Ecuador's interior ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press.
The Mexican embassy in Quito was under heavy police protection late Friday.
A day earlier, tensions rose between the two countries after Mexico's President Andrés Manuel López Obrador made statements that Ecuador was “very unfortunate” about the last elections, which were won by Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa.
In response, the Ecuadorian government The Mexican ambassador declared himself a non-persona.
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