The former vice president of Ecuador is arrested at the Mexican embassy in Quito

Late Friday, Ecuadorian police stormed the Mexican embassy in the Ecuadorian capital, Quito, to arrest former Ecuadorian Vice President Jorge Glas.

Glass, who has been living at the embassy since last December, requested political asylum there after being accused of corruption. The police raid, according to the Associated Press, took place just hours after he was granted asylum.

– Pierre Shourie says that this contradicts the principles of international law.

– The embassy is holy land. What they did was go into Mexican territory. It's especially surprising because they have a tradition in Latin America where you can ask for protection at the embassy, ​​and everyone knows that and respects it. In this case, Ecuador violates the Vienna Convention and this tradition.

A major battle has now broken out between the two countries, whose relationship was already frosty. Daniel Noboa was elected president in January, something that Mexican President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador recently described as “extremely regrettable.”

Flee to the embassy

López Obrador calls Friday's arrest a “flagrant violation of international law and Mexico's sovereignty” — and the country is now severing diplomatic ties with Ecuador. Embassy staff were ordered to leave the country.

In turn, Ecuador's presidential office defended the arrest by saying that Ecuador is a “free country” and will not allow the release of any criminal, the Associated Press reported.

Jorge Glass was Vice President of Ecuador from 2013 to 2017, but he was forced to leave office after being sentenced to several years in prison on corruption charges. Glass was released on parole last year and then fled to the Mexican embassy.