Ecuador Raids Mexican Embassy

Written by Joseph Cain | April 15, 2024

Jorge Glas

Ecuador was thrown into the global spotlight after it decided to conduct a raid on the Mexican Embassy in Quito to arrest former Vice President Jorge Glas (2013-2017) on April 5^th. Mexico has broken off diplomatic ties with Ecuador over the raid. These moves create further continued distrust between leftist and right-wing leaders that have come to dominate the presidencies of most countries in the region, negatively impacting Latin America’s ability to work as a bloc on issues of regional and global interest. 

The raid was a response to Mexico’s decision to grant political asylum to Glas, who had been present at the embassy since December 2023. Glas had been convicted twice on corruption charges and accused by Ecuadorian authorities of embezzling government relief funds for victims of a 2016 earthquake that devasted the country. 

Mexico and its supporters have argued that Ecuador’s actions represent a clear violation of the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Affairs and potentially a regional agreement called the 1954 Convention on Diplomatic Asylum due to the forcible entry into the diplomatic compound, the injuries sustained by Mexican diplomats at the hands of Ecuadorian authorities, and the arrest of an asylum seeker. It has since tried, with success, to rally countries around the world to its side and condemn Ecuador’s actions. On April 9^th, Mexico officially filed a case against Ecuador at the International Court of Justice for violating the Vienna Convention.  

Ecuador’s raid was so controversial largely due to its relatively unprecedented nature. Per the Vienna Convention, the Mexican Embassy should be treated as Mexican sovereign soil and respected as such. Ecuador has sought to explain and defend the raid with the argument that Mexico had abused its immunities and privileges by granting diplomatic asylum to a convicted criminal who was a flight risk. The most recent precedent for this action has been one of the raid’s biggest critics— Cuba. In 1981, Cuba carried out a similar raid on the Ecuadorian Embassy in Havana to capture political asylum seekers.