Can Ecuador look for Glas at the Mexican Embassy?

The Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry requested that the National Police be authorized to enter the Mexican Embassy, ​​to capture former Vice President Jorge Glas.

Through a verbal note, the Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry requested the Mexican Embassy to authorize entry of the National Police to the headquarters of the diplomatic mission, to proceed with the arrest of former vice president Jorge Glas, who is wanted by the Ecuadorian justice system.

In the document that was made public, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs asks the Mexican authorities to respond to the previous communications, dated December 17, 2023, January 10, 2024 and February 29, 2024, in which He was informed that Glas has criminal cases against him and a location request and capture of the National Court of Justice (CNJ), for the crime of embezzlement.

The Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry also made it clear that Glas is not a politically persecuted person, but a sentenced and prosecuted for cases of corruption, it is noted that there is no possibility of granting him political asylum, which has been requested by the former president.

“In light of the aforementioned elements and the time that has passed (…) the Foreign Ministry requests the consent of the head of the Mexican diplomatic mission for law enforcement forces to enter the mission premises and comply with the capture of Mr. Jorge David Glas Espinel”, it was noted in the letter.

Jorge Glas took refuge in the Mexican Embassy in Quito on December 17, 2023, with the aim of evading a location and capture request from the State Attorney General’s Office, which initiated an investigation for the crime of embezzlement, for which misuse of funds raised for the reconstruction of Manabí, after the earthquake of April 2016.

Can you enter the Mexican Embassy in search of Glas?

According to Luis Narváez, an expert in diplomacy, the possibility of the Mexican State authorizing the Ecuadorian Police to enter its headquarters it’s remoteTherefore, even if it is proven that Glas is not a politically persecuted person, but rather someone convicted of corruption, the final decision rests with this country, which currently hosts in its territory former legislators of Correism, the same political line of the former vice president.

Furthermore, Narváez pointed out that a forced entry It must be discarded because the Vienna Convention on International Relations and other treaties protect the Mexican State, which has the right to preserve its jurisdiction; Entering without authorization would be illegal and would break the rules of International Law.

There is no room for a safe conduct

For the constitutionalist José Chalco, the legal strategy of the Ecuadorian Government in this case is correct, since it must insist on demonstrating that Glas is not a politically persecuted person, that he has a criminal sentence against him and that, if the Mexican State grants him the asylum, Ecuadorian authorities they will not issue the safe conduct that allows you to leave Ecuador.

“The Embassy of Mexico has not previously demonstrated cooperation with the Government of Ecuador in recent times; Thus it would become an act that violates the International Convention on Asylum of 1954, since It does not fit for those who have processes of criminal justice, as is the case,” said the expert.

An award for corruption

For Germán Rodas Chaves, coordinator of the National Anti-Corruption Commission (CNA), the decision of the Mexican Government not to give a positive response so that Jorge Glas is arrested, leaves a message of impunity in the region, in which, due to a political tendency, people who have been proven to have committed acts of corruption are protected.

“It doesn’t hurt to make the attempt, but Mexico, for two centuries, has managed asylum in an institutional manner, I fear that, for that reason, it will not pay attention to this approach,” pointed out the CNA coordinator.

For Rodas, what remains in doubt is the actions of the Ecuadorian authorities, since they should not have allowedif there was already an arrest warrant, for Glas to enter this diplomatic headquarters, which also shows the level of corruption in the justice bodies, which surely leaked information that reached the former vice president.