Ecuador defends before the ICJ that the assault on the Mexican Embassy in Quito was an “isolated” event

MADRID (EUROPA PRESS).- Ecuador defended this Wednesday before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that the assault on the Mexican Embassy in Quito, where former Vice President Jorge Glas was taking refuge, was an “isolated” event and that it took place ” in very exceptional circumstances.”

Ecuador’s ambassador to the organization, Andrés Terán Parral, stressed this Wednesday during the second hearing of the case that “Mexico misused its diplomatic facilities in Quito to house a common criminal,” in reference to Glas, “who has been convicted twice by the highest courts of Ecuador.”

“Mexico’s insinuations that Ecuadorian courts could order further entry into the Embassy have no basis in Ecuadorian law or in any evidence presented to the court,” he stressed, adding that “there are no threats to Mexican property or archives.” “.

The Ecuadorian representative affirmed that the country “will always” be willing “to resolve any difference” with Mexico.

“But justice is not negotiable. We will never protect criminals who have harmed Mexicans,” he said.

Finally, he asked the ICJ to dismiss the precautionary claims requested by Mexico regarding the protection and respect of its diplomatic facilities, also including the properties and archives located therein.

The day before, the Mexican representative before the ICJ, Alejandro Celorio, accused Ecuador of violating “the limits established in International Law” and of creating “a disconcerting precedent that reverberates throughout the international community.”

“We have not been given credible guarantees to avoid new infractions nor has Ecuador fully recognized its obligation not to enter the premises of Mexico,” he said, accusing Quito of “deliberate negligence” towards the lives of the people who were in the diplomatic mission premises.

Ecuadorian security forces entered the headquarters of the Mexican Embassy in Quito at the beginning of the month to comply with the arrest warrant against Glas, accused of corruption. Mexico quickly denounced what happened and elevated the case to the ICJ for “the flagrant violation of the inviolability of the Embassy, ​​against the physical and moral integrity of the diplomats.”

The Ecuadorian authorities accuse Glas of an alleged crime of embezzlement of public funds for reconstruction work in the province of Manabí after the shock of a strong earthquake in 2016, which left more than 670 dead.