The foreign ministers of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) will meet in the Honduran capital on Tuesday for an extraordinary session to discuss the diplomatic crisis between Ecuador and Mexico over the storming of the Mexican Embassy in Quito.
On Monday, CELAC's governing body held an emergency meeting dedicated to the incident.
Following the storm by the Ecuadorian police, Mexico City suspended diplomatic ties with Quito, saying that some Mexican diplomats had been injured as a result of the storming. Mexico City also vowed to appeal to the UN International Court of Justice and urge it to condemn the actions of the Ecuadorian authorities.
Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa said on Monday that he ordered the storming of the Mexican embassy in Quito to protect national security.
"I have made exceptional decisions to protect national security, the rule of law and the dignity of the people, who reject any impunity for criminals, corrupt officials and narco-terrorists. My duty is to carry out the decisions of justice, and we could not allow criminals convicted of serious acts to seek asylum," Noboa said in a statement.
Ecuador's actions against the Mexican embassy in Quito were publicly condemned by at least 20 countries in the Americas, as well as the European Union, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the Organization of American States and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States.
Mexico Will Not Expel Ecuadorian Diplomats, Foreign Minister Says
The Mexican government does not intend to take any measures against the Ecuadorian diplomatic mission after the countries suspended diplomatic ties due to the attack on the Mexican embassy in Ecuador, Mexican Foreign Minister Alicia Barcena said.
"The head of the [Ecuadorian] embassy was on vacation in Quito and returned yesterday with our Mexicans [recalled diplomats], so I had the opportunity to greet him. On the instructions of the President, we want to call for calm, we are not going to apply the same recipe [measures] as they do," Barcena said during a press conference.
Glas served five years in prison for bribery and criminal conspiracy before being released in late 2022. However, already in December 2023, he was sentenced to six more years in prison in a corruption case involving Brazilian construction company Odebrecht, currently known as Novonor. Glas took refuge in the Mexican diplomatic mission in the same month, before an official warrant for his arrest was issued. On April 5, 2024, Mexico granted Glas political asylum. Ecuador called Mexico's decision illegal and demanded the extradition of the politician.