The former vice president of Ecuador was arrested at the Mexican embassy

Security forces in Ecuador stormed the Mexican embassy and arrested former Ecuadorian Vice President Jorge Glas. The governments of the two Latin American countries announced this on Friday (local time). Mexico will sever diplomatic relations with Ecuador with immediate effect and will appeal to the International Court of Justice, Mexican Foreign Minister Alicia Bárcena said.

Glass, who is wanted on corruption charges, had been staying at the Mexican representation in the Ecuadorian capital, Quito, for months. On Friday, the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced its desire to grant Glass asylum. Then the Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry in South America said that this violated international agreements. There is an arrest warrant for Glass for embezzlement and he will not be allowed to leave the country.

George Glass.Image: Cornerstone

Glass was vice president of Ecuador during the second term of leftist President Rafael Correa (2013-2017) – who has since been convicted of corruption and lives in exile in Belgium – and at the beginning of his term. Lenin Moreno's successor (2017-2021). At the end of 2017, he was convicted of accepting bribes in exchange for awarding public contracts to the Brazilian company Odebrecht. He was sentenced to eight years in prison in several corruption cases. Two years ago, he was released early due to the poor security situation in Ecuadorian prisons.

Only on Thursday, the Ecuadorian government, headed by conservative President Daniel Noboa, declared the Mexican ambassador persona non grata. The reason behind this was the suggestion by left-wing populist Mexican President Andres Manuel López Obrador that the killing of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio last August in Ecuador contributed to Noboa's victory in the elections in October. (DAP/EPA)