Ecuador police arrest former VP in raid at Mexican embassy, prompting diplomatic severing, outcry

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador on Friday evening announced the severing of diplomatic relations with Ecuador following the arrest of former Ecuadorian Vice President Jorge Glas.

Ecuadorian police late Friday broke through the external doors of the Mexican embassy in the Ecuadorian capital, Quito, to arrest Glas, who had been residing there since December.

Glas sought political asylum at the embassy after being indicted on corruption charges.

"This is not possible. It cannot be. This is crazy," Roberto Canseco, head of the Mexican consular section in Quito, told local press while standing outside the embassy right after the raid, according to The Associated Press. "I am very worried because they could kill him. There is no basis to do this. This is totally outside the norm."

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Alicia Bárcena, Mexico’s secretary of foreign relations, on Friday posted on the social media platform X that a number of diplomats suffered injuries during the break-in.

Bárcena said Mexico would take the case to the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, "to denounce Ecuador’s responsibility for violations of international law." She also recalled Mexican diplomats.

Ecuador's Foreign Minister Gabriela Sommerfeld on Saturday told reporters that the decision to enter the embassy was made by President Daniel Noboa after considering Glas' "imminent flight risk" and exhausting all possibilities for diplomatic dialogue with Mexico. Mexico granted Glas asylum hours before the raid. Sommerfeld said that "it is not legal to grant asylum to people convicted of common crimes and by competent courts."

Authorities are investigating Glas over