By Alexandra Valencia and Brendan O’Boyle
QUITO/MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Ecuadorian authorities arrested former Vice President Jorge Glas on Friday evening, seizing him from the Mexican embassy and prompting Mexico to suspend bilateral relations.
Glas, twice convicted of corruption, had been holed up in the embassy in Quito since requesting political asylum in December, a request that Mexico granted last Friday.
Police forcefully entered the Mexican Embassy in Quito before making the arrest, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador posted on X.
The Ecuadorian president’s office said in a statement that it had arrested Glas, who served as vice president under the leftist government of Rafael Correa between 2013 and 2017.
There was a strong military presence in the Andean capital’s magistrate’s court, where the former vice president was taken.
The arrest caps a week of growing tension between Mexico and Ecuador, which on Thursday declared Mexico’s ambassador to Quito persona non grata, citing “unfortunate” comments by leftist President Lopez Obrador.
Ecuador claims Mexico’s offer of asylum was illegal.
In a statement, Ecuador’s presidency accused Mexico of “abusing the immunities and privileges granted to the diplomatic mission hosting the former vice president and of having granted diplomatic asylum contrary to the conventional legal framework.”
Lopez Obrador said he had instructed Mexican Foreign Minister Alicia Barcena to suspend diplomatic ties with Ecuador, calling the arrest an “authoritarian” act and a violation of international law and Mexican sovereignty.
Barcena announced shortly after day X the “immediate” suspension of diplomatic relations with the South American nation.
Ecuadorian authorities had asked Mexico for permission to enter the embassy and arrest Glas, who was sentenced to six years in prison in 2017 after being found guilty of receiving bribes from Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht in exchange for being awarded government procurement.
Glas, who has a preventive arrest warrant for another corruption case, has reported being persecuted for his political affiliation, which the Ecuadorian government denies.
Ecuadorian officials were angered this week by Lopez Obrador’s comments about the South American country’s bloody elections last year, in which a presidential candidate was assassinated.
Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa took office late last year and immediately faced growing conflict with drug gangs, prompting him to declare a nationwide state of emergency earlier this year, which it extended last month.