Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores y Movilidad Humana
Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores y Movilidad Humana > Sin categoría > Ecuador defends its democratic stability, sovereignty and the dignity of Ecuadorians

Ecuador defends its democratic stability, sovereignty and the dignity of Ecuadorians

                                                                                                 Quito, April 6th, 2024

Since taking office on November 23, 2023, President Daniel Noboa has frontally combated transnational organized crime in defense of Democracy, peace and the security of Ecuadorians.

As Ecuador faces a non-international armed conflict, with evident repercussions on democracy and citizen peace, the abuse of the immunities and privileges afforded by the Vienna Convention, granted to a diplomatic mission, have only aggravated this situation.

For this reason, Ecuador exhausted all diplomatic channelswith Mexico regarding this issue, as detailed below:

• Jorge Glas Espinel entered the Mexican Embassy onDecember 17, 2023 and was received as a guest; he was later considered an asylum seeker. The aforementioned citizen, who has two final and enforceable sentences for common crimes and hadlegal alternative measures with the obligation toappear periodically before the judicial authority, can in no way be considered as a politically, religiously, or ethnically persecuted person.

• The Mexican Embassy, by receiving Mr. Glas Espinel, contributed to his non- compliance with the obligation to appear weekly before the judicial authority, affecting the democratic institutions of Ecuador, clearly contravening the fundamentalprinciple of non-intervention in the internal affairs ofothers states.

• The Foreign Ministry promptly sent the Mexican Embassy all the information provided by the National Court of Justice and the Attorney General’s Office on the convictions handed down for the crimes of illicit association and bribery, as well as the arrest warrant issued against him for the crime of embezzlement.

• Ecuador expressed to the Embassy of Mexico throughrepeated communications and official meetings that it is not appropriate in any way to grant diplomatic asylum to Mr. Glas Espinel by virtue of the provisionsof Article III of the Caracas Convention on Diplomatic Asylum of 1954 and Article 1 of the Montevideo Convention on Political Asylum of 1933, which clearly establish that it is not lawful to grant asylum to persons convicted or prosecuted for common crimes and by competent ordinary courts.

Police can comply with the arrest warrant issued by theNational Court of Justice.

This request was denied.

• It is important to highlight that Article 41 of the ViennaConvention on Diplomatic Relations provides that all persons enjoying privileges and immunities must respect the laws of the receiving State; and they are obliged not to interfere in the internal affairs of that State.

On the other hand, the president of Mexico, AndrésManuel López Obrador, made some very unfortunate statements, calling into question the legitimacy of the 2023 elections and trivializing the assassination of the presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, once againviolating the fundamental principle of non-intervention inthe internal affairs of other States.

It was for this reason that the Government of the Republic of Ecuador decided, in accordance with Article 9 of theVienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, to declare the Mexican Ambassador in Quito “persona non grata.”

Faced with this fact, the president of Mexico reaffirmed his statements, affecting the democratic stability,sovereignty, and dignity of Ecuador and, in parallel, theMinistry of Foreign Affairs of Mexico reported that the Mexican Government decided to grant Mr. Glas political asylum.

For Ecuador, the granting of diplomatic asylum to Mr. Glas Espinel is not only an illicit act by Mexico in the context of the aforementioned provisions of the Conventions on asylum, but it also contravenes Article 41 paragraph 3 of the Vienna Convention, since the premises of the Mission must not be used in a manner incompatible with the functions of the Mission.

Ecuador is a country that respects international law, in which no person is persecuted for reasons of race, religion, membership in a certain social group or for political opinions, in compliance with the Constitution, international human rights instruments and the laws of the Republic.

Additionally, Mexico had to comply with the obligationscontained in the United Nations Convention against Corruption of 2003 and the Inter-American Convention against Corruption of 1996, making effective the duty tocooperate to prevent and combat acts of corruption in the exercise of public functions.

The decision of the President of Ecuador was taken, furthermore, in the face of a real and imminent flight risk of the citizen required by law enforcement, in exercise of our sovereignty.

The National Government has complied with the arrest warrant of Mr. Jorge Glas ordered by the National Court of Justice and placed him under the orders of the . For Ecuador, no criminal can be consideredpolitically

• On February 29, 2024, the Foreign Ministry requested the Mexican Embassy, based on the provisions of Article 22 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, for authorization from the Mexican Ambassador so that the National

persecuted when he has been convicted with an enforceablesentence and with an arrest warrant issued by the judicial authorities.