Members of the state police and the army They were stationed around the Mexican embassy in northern Quitor on Thursday night after the Ecuadorian government increased security at the diplomatic building Declare person not grata to Mexican Ambassador Raquel Serur Smekein response to comments by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador on political events in Ecuador.
The Ecuadorian authorities They did not provide any information about the increased security measures in the area around the embassy. The decision to declare the Mexican ambassador persona non grata is based on López Obrador’s statements related to the assassination of Fernando Villavicencio and its impact on the 2023 early elections in Ecuador.
President López Obrador mentioned this in his press conference on April 3rd that the Villavicencio crime had an impact on the candidacy of Luisa González during the first round of presidential electionswhich led to controversy and diplomatic tensions between both countries.
TERRIFYING
This video shows the current situation at the Mexican Embassy in Quito. President Daniel Noboa, his absolute ignorance of the international order, international laws and the art of diplomacy directly affects us all… pic.twitter.com/kQyIP0LdTS— Monica Palacios (@MoniPalaciosZ) April 5, 2024
The measure of a person’s declaration not grata to a diplomat is stipulated in Article 9 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which gives the receiving state the power to make this decision without giving reasons.
The Ecuadorian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has stipulated that Ambassador Raquel Serur Smeke must leave the country within a certain period of time, although the exact time of his departure was not specified. In addition, it was made clear that this measure does not mean the severance of diplomatic relations between Ecuador and Mexico.
The situation surrounding former Vice President Jorge Glas also aroused interest following these events. Glas has been at the Mexican Embassy since December 2023, They are applying for political asylum while facing preventive detention for alleged irregularities in the Manabí reconstruction case.
Glas’s lawyer, Sonia Vera, confirmed to local media that the former vice president was still at the embassy and that a positive response to his request for political asylum was expected from the Mexican government. According to Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Gabriela Sommerfeld, the Ecuadorian president has stated that if Glas is granted asylum, he will not be granted safe passage.
dmr