Cuba’s President strongly condemns raid on Mexican Embassy in Ecuador

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel condemned Tuesday the arrest of former Ecuadoran vice president Jorge Glas, who had been granted political asylum at the Mexican embassy in Ecuador.

Diaz-Canel reiterated Cuba’s strong condemnation of this flagrant violation of international law, including the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and the right to asylum.”

He was speaking during a virtual summit of CELAC, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, in which presidents from across the region are mulling possible sanctions against Ecuador.

Mexican authorities released footage of the storming of the embassy by Ecuadorian forces to arrest former Ecuadorian VP Jorge Glas.#Ecuador #Mexico pic.twitter.com/v05abVfHLT

— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) April 11, 2024

The Cuban President deemed Quito’s actions as a clear violation of Mexican sovereignty and a threat to the safety of the diplomatic staff stationed there.

“What happened not only has a very negative impact on the bilateral relations between Mexico and Ecuador: it affects all the countries of this region and the international community as a whole,” he underlined.

Diaz-Canel also called for Glas’ asylum status to be reinstated and emphasized that his case should be reviewed according to established international laws rather than through the use of force.

“It will depend to a large extent on our actions that repugnant events such as this do not happen again in Latin America and the Caribbean. Accepting or remaining silent in the face of the unacceptable behavior of the Government of Ecuador would set a very serious and dangerous precedent,” he stressed.

The Cuban leader urged against resorting to force and legal violations as a means of resolving issues, stating that such approaches would only hinder “the integration of Latin America and the Caribbean.”

Elsewhere, Diaz-Canel expressed his full support for the Mexican government, vowing that “Mexico can count on our firm support in the actions they undertake in the face of this unacceptable breach of International Law.”

The Ecuadorian security forces’ incursion on diplomatic territory led Mexico to break ties with Ecuador, pulling its diplomats out of the country.

Mexico has filed a lawsuit against Ecuador at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, saying it wants the country suspended from the United Nations.

Several Latin American states, Spain, the European Union, the United States, and the UN chief have condemned the embassy raid as a violation of the 1961 Vienna Convention governing diplomatic relations.

Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa has defended the raid as necessary to detain Glas because he posed a flight risk, saying he was willing to “resolve any difference” with Mexico, though an Ecuadoran court has since ruled the operation was “illegal and arbitrary.”

The high court ruling said the arrest was illegal since security forces had no warrant to enter the embassy. But the court added Glas would remain in a high-security prison in the port of Guayaquil pending two other cases of corruption.

Glas, who served as vice president from 2013 to 2017, faces graft charges stemming from his time in office.

Maduro order closure of Cuba’s diplomatic missions in Ecuador

In the same context, Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro announced Tuesday he had ordered the closure of his country’s diplomatic missions in Ecuador after the raid on the Mexican embassy in Quito.

Maduro confirmed during the CELAC summit he had ordered “diplomatic personnel to return to Venezuela immediately… until international law is restored in Ecuador.”

“We strongly condemn” the raid, said Honduran President Xiomara Castro, who currently chairs the bloc, describing the incident as “barbaric”.

The Venezuelan President demanded that Glas be freed from the maximum security prison where he is now being held and handed over to Mexico.

He also affirmed his country’s full support for Mexico’s demand to expel Ecuador from the United Nations.

“I have explained that this suspension must occur until Ecuador apologizes to the international community and restores the situation to its original legal status,” Maduro indicated.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva proposed creating a commission to review Glas’s health.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador urged CELAC member states to support his country by co-signing its complaint at the UN court.

Read more: Ecuador’s Correa says Jorge Glas on hunger strike after failed suicide