Amid a creating diplomatic spat, Mexico has granted asylum to a former Ecuadorian vp accused of bribery whereas in workplace.
In a press release on Friday, Mexico’s overseas ministry mentioned it had supplied political asylum to Jorge Glas, who has been staying in Mexico’s embassy in Quito since late final yr.
The assertion known as on Quito to grant “safe passage” to Glas, who had twice been convicted of corruption, to go away the nation.
“Once asylum is granted, the asylum state can request the departure of the asylum seeker to a foreign territory, and the territorial state [Ecuador] is obliged to immediately grant the corresponding person safe passage,” Mexico’s overseas ministry wrote.
The ministry additionally condemned what it described as an “increase in the presence of Ecuadorian police forces” exterior of its embassy in Quito. Ecuadorean authorities have frequently sought permission to enter the embassy and arrest Glas, who was sentenced to 6 years in jail in 2017.
The announcement has come at a second of heightened pressure for the 2 nations. On Thursday, Ecuador declared Mexico’s ambassador a “persona non grata”, in response to feedback made by Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
What did Lopez Obrador say?
The remarks that set off the diplomatic incident have been aired on Wednesday, throughout Lopez Obrador’s every day information briefing.
Talking to reporters, the left-leaning Mexican president implied that violence had affected the result of Ecuador’s latest presidential elections.
“In a very strange way, there were elections in Ecuador,” Lopez Obrador defined. He then proceeded to handle the assassination of Ecuadorean presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio in August 2023, weeks earlier than the primary spherical of voting.
Lopez Obrador implied that frontrunner Luisa Gonzalez finally misplaced Ecuador’s election due to Villavicencio’s homicide and the media hypothesis it produced.
Villavicencio had been a longtime anticorruption campaigner and was a vocal critic of Gonzalez’s left-wing occasion, the Citizen Revolution Motion.
“A male candidate who speaks ill of the female candidate who was on top is suddenly murdered,” Lopez Obrador mentioned, with out naming both Villavicencio or Gonzalez. “And the female candidate who was at the top falls.”
Within the run-off vote in October, Gonzalez narrowly misplaced the Ecuadorian presidency to centre-right businessman Daniel Noboa, a relative newcomer to nationwide politics and the inheritor to a banana trade fortune.
What was the response?
The Ecuadorian overseas ministry adopted Lopez Obrador’s statements on Thursday by declaring Mexico’s ambassador to Ecuador, Raquel Serur Smeke, persona non grata and telling her to go away the nation “soon”.
It additionally acknowledged Villavicencio’s assassination, which befell exterior of a political rally in Quito on August 9.
“Ecuador is still mourning this unfortunate event that caused shock in Ecuadorian society and threatens democracy, peace and security,” the ministry wrote. It additionally known as Lopez Obrador’s statements on the matter “unfortunate”.
Supporters of the Mexican president, nonetheless, defended his remarks, saying that he was trying to match the state of affairs in Ecuador to the latest violence Mexico has confronted within the run-up to its June 2 elections.
A number of native candidates in Mexico have already been killed, together with Bertha Gisela Gaytan, a candidate representing Lopez Obrador’s Morena occasion within the race to be mayor of Celaya.
Critics have additionally identified that Lopez Obrador’s statements gave the impression to be largely essential of the media. In his Wednesday remarks, Lopez Obrador accused media firms of whipping up a “heated atmosphere” in Ecuador earlier than the vote.
On Friday, Lopez Obrador mentioned Mexico wouldn’t expel Ecuador’s ambassador in retaliation.
Talking shortly earlier than his overseas ministry made the announcement on Glas, he shrugged off the suggestion that there was any dispute between the 2 nations.
“For there to be a fight, there need to be two parties involved,” he mentioned. He additionally known as Mexico’s ambassador to Ecuador, Serur Smeke, an “exceptional person”.
Identified for his outspokenness, Lopez Obrador has spurred tensions in recent times together with his feedback about regional politics. Final yr, as an example, he provoked ire in Peru after providing asylum to impeached former President Pedro Castillo, who’s at the moment in jail.
He additionally questioned the legitimacy of Castillo’s successor, present President Dina Boluarte. “So long as there isn’t democratic normalcy in Peru, we don’t want economic or trade relations with them,” he mentioned.
Peru’s Congress responded by declaring Lopez Obrador a “persona non grata”.