Mexico Grants Asylum to Former Ecuadorian Vice President Glas

On Friday, the Mexican Foreign Affairs Secretary issued a statement announcing that Mexico grants political asylum to former Ecuadorian Vice President Jorge Glas.

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"After a thorough analysis of the information received, the Mexican government decided to grant political asylum to Jorge Glas, who is currently at the Mexican Embassy in Quito," it said.

"This will be officially communicated to the Ecuadorian authorities, along with the request for the safe conduct, in accordance with the 1954 Diplomatic Asylum Convention, an international treaty of which Mexico and Ecuador are parties," specified Mexican diplomacy.

The Foreign Affairs Secretary pointed out that "the asylum-granting State - in this case Mexico - is the only one empowered to assess the nature of the persecution against political asylum seekers (Article IV), that its decision to continue with the asylum must be respected by the territorial State - in this case Ecuador - (Article IX) and that, once asylum is granted, the granting State may request the departure of the asylee to foreign territory, and the territorial State is obliged to immediately provide the corresponding safe conduct."

The text reads, "Alarming: This video shows the current situation at the Mexican embassy in Quito. President Daniel Noboa, your absolute ignorance about the international order, international laws, and the art of diplomacy, is directly affecting all of us Ecuadorians. What is the need to have all this police deployment outside the Mexican embassy? What are you looking for by intimidating the Mexican officials who are inside the embassy, where our leader, Jorge Glas, is also staying? President, enough! Don't you think the scandals you caused with Russia, the United States, and Spain were too much?

In the same communication, Mexican diplomacy regretted that its ambassador to Ecuador, Raquel Serur Smeke, had been declared persona non grata and must leave the country.

"Since presenting her credentials to the Ecuadorian State on June 18, 2019, Ambassador Serur Smeke has carried out outstanding diplomatic work in favor of deepening political dialogue between Mexico and Ecuador," it recalled.

"During her tenure... bonds were strengthened between the business sectors of both countries, and cultural exchange was intensely promoted. At all times, Ambassador Serur Smeke adhered to the principles of foreign policy established in the Mexican constitution and in international law. So the aforementioned declaration clearly has a political character."

After President Daniel Noboa declared Serur Smeke persona non grata, Ecuadorian security forces increased their presence outside the Mexican Embassy in Quito.

"This constitutes clear harassment of the Embassy and a flagrant violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. It is evident that these actions do not correspond to the usual surveillance and protection practices of diplomatic properties, based on the norms that regulate good relations between nations," the Mexican Foreign Affairs secretary stated.

"Mexico demands that Ecuador respect our sovereignty, refrain from harming the asylum right, comply with its international obligations, guarantee the inviolability of diplomatic missions, and cease the policy of harassment and intimidation. If this situation persists, Mexico holds Ecuador responsible for any harm to the diplomatic headquarters, its accredited personnel, and any person under the protection of the Mexican state," it pointed out.

On Friday, despite all of the above, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) ratified that his administration will not sever diplomatic relations with Ecuador.

"We are not going to break relations nor are we going to do the same with the ambassador of Ecuador... I gave instructions for the Mexican Air Force to bring our ambassador," he said.