Left MEPs condemn the Ecuadorian government’s raid on the Mexican embassy in Quito and the violent kidnapping of Former Ecuadorian Vice President, Jorge Glas.

Following an order from President Daniel Noboa, heavily armed police forces mounted a night raid on the building, assaulted Mexican diplomatic agents, and kidnapped Jorge Glas, who had been granted diplomatic asylum by Mexico.

The attack by Ecuadorian state security forces on the Mexican embassy is unprecedented and unacceptable. The inviolability of diplomatic missions is enshrined in Article 22 of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. This assault not only constitutes a violation of international law, it also undermines the elementary principles of relations between states and constitutes an attack on the right to asylum.

An attack on an embassy violating the protection of diplomatic immunity and extraterritoriality, is an attack on the globally accepted conventions of international relations, to which both Ecuador and Mexico are party. Mexico has responded by severing diplomatic relations with Ecuador.

MEPs from The Left, together with MEPs from four other political groups, signed a letter of solidarity with Mexican President Lopez Obrador and met with Rafael Correa, the exiled former President of Ecuador.

🇪🇨🇲🇽 Frente al atropello autoritario de Noboa, toda nuestra solidaridad con el presidente @lopezobrador_ y con el digno pueblo mexicano. Eurodiputados de cinco grupos parlamentarios denunciamos el asalto de la Embajada mexicana en Ecuador. Una violación de la soberanía de México… pic.twitter.com/tZaAmCggrO

— Manu Pineda🔻🇵🇸💔🏴 (@ManuPineda) April 11, 2024

Échange avec l’ancien président de l’Équateur Rafael Correa @MashiRafael.

L’attaque contre l’ambassade mexicaine en Équateur, et l’enlèvement de Jorge Glas, ancien vice-président, constituent des violations graves du droit d’asile et des Conventions de Vienne et de Caracas. pic.twitter.com/ZKL8WQafVK

— Marc Botenga (@BotengaM) April 9, 2024

Jorge Glas served as Vice President of Ecuador from 24 May 2013 to 13 December 2017, first under Rafael Correa and later under Lenin Moreno. He entered the Mexican embassy in Quito in December 2023 asking for political asylum.

The Mexican government called for Ecuador to be suspended from the UN over the attack on its embassy in Quito in a complaint filed with the International Court of Justice (ICJ). López Obrador argued that “there should be no repetition of a despicable event such as the one suffered by Mexico”.