The Government of Mexico has accused Ecuador this Tuesday of violating international laws for raiding its embassy in Quito, the Ecuadorian capital, on April 5, forcibly removing the former vice president of the Andean country, Jorge Glas, from there. The politician, accused of corruption, was in the diplomatic legation as a political asylum. In view of the assault, Mexico has asked the United Nations International Court of Justice (TIJ) to issue precautionary measures that defend the inviolability of embassies and consulates. He also asks the judges that Ecuador be suspended as a member of the UN until it apologizes and that they set a precedent declaring that a State can be expelled from the organization for cases like this. Both countries have broken off their relations and the incident has caused commotion inside and outside of Latin America.
The raid on the Mexican embassy in Quito was carried out by members of the Ecuadorian National Police and was filmed by the building’s security cameras. These images have been presented to the judges during the first of the two hearings dedicated to the case by the TIJ. This Monday it was Mexico’s turn and Alejandro Celorio Alcántara, legal consultant for the Mexican Foreign Service, recalled that “at least 68 states and international organizations have expressed solidarity with Mexico and disapprove of Ecuador.” States, Celorio Alcántara added, “cannot invoke internal measures to breach international standards.” He then stated: “A disconcerting precedent has been set that has repercussions on the entire international community.”
Ecuador has justified the police operation due to the alleged risk that Glas would escape the country and because it considered the granting of political asylum illegal. The Ecuadorian president, Daniel Noboa, in an interview at the beginning of the month on the Australian channel SBS, defended the invasion of the diplomatic legation. In his opinion, some governments “use their embassies as a facade for a political refugee, but in reality it is for impunity.” Former Vice President Glas is accused of a crime of embezzlement. He assures that this is an unfounded accusation. Once inside the Mexican embassy in Quito, he needed safe conduct from the Ecuadorian Government to fly to Mexico.
The practice of political asylum has developed in a special way in Latin America, although with limitations regarding signs of war crimes, crimes against humanity and against peace, according to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. Mexico granted it to Jorge Glas and Roberto Canseco, head of the Mexican diplomatic mission, tried to prevent the assault. He was also beaten and threatened with firearms by the agents. The sequence of events has also been contemplated by the TIJ judges, who have seen the arrival of the police forces that surrounded the embassy.
Diplomacy is supported by international treaties, especially the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (1961), which regulates it and establishes the immunity of diplomatic personnel. Mexico has denounced Ecuador’s violation of this treaty before the judges. Hence, the precautionary measures requested include the protection of diplomatic legations, assets and archives; that Ecuador allows Mexico to clear diplomatic premises and the private residences of its representatives; guarantees that no measures are taken that harm the rights of Mexico, and that the Ecuadorian State refrains from any act or conduct that could aggravate the controversy.
The inviolability of diplomatic legations also guarantees peaceful relations between States. For this reason, Julian Assange, founder and editor of the WikiLeaks website – whose case has been cited by Mexico before the ICJ – spent seven years in the Ecuadorian embassy in the United Kingdom. The British authorities did not let him leave, but they did not break into the building either. Gabriela Sommerfeld, Ecuadorian Foreign Minister, has declared that for her Government “no criminal can be considered a political refugee.”
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This Wednesday the representatives of Ecuador will speak and the case will go to deliberation by the judges. As this is a request for precautionary measures, they do not have to go into the substance of the matter and their ruling may be known in the coming weeks. Maybe in a few months. On the other hand, Ecuador sued Mexico this Monday before the TIJ itself, considering that the Government of Andrés Manuel López interfered in its internal affairs by granting asylum to former Vice President Glas. The Ecuadorian Government alleges that Mexico has failed to comply with its obligations not to interfere in the internal affairs of the receiving State, and not to use diplomatic offices in a manner incompatible with the functions assigned to it. Again, the text invoked is the 1961 Vienna Convention.
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