López Obrador asks Celac to join the complaint against Ecuador at the ICJ

The president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, asked this Tuesday at the summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac) to join his complaint against Ecuador in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) after the assault on the Embassy Mexican in Quito.

“We appreciate the solidarity of the majority of the people and governments of Latin America and the Caribbean, and we also want to propose to you, if you consider it viable and feasible, that you join us by signing the complaint in the international court of justice,” he declared. the president in his initial message.

López Obrador reaffirmed that His complaint seeks “an expulsion of Ecuador from the United Nations, as long as there is not an apology and an offer of non-repetition, of never doing anything wrong again.” such as the raid on the Mexican diplomatic headquarters on April 5.

The Celac event, whose pro tempore presidency is held by the president of Honduras, Xiomara Castro, began around 09:00 local time (15:00 GMT) with the absence of some heads of state from the region.

At the summit, the president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, announced the closure of his Embassy and consulates in Ecuador in support of Mexico, while the president of Bolivia, Luis Arce, announced that he will join the complaint of the Mexican Government.

The Mexican president expressed before his peers that he considers it a “grief” and a “flagrant violation” of the sovereignty of Mexico and to international law the raid carried out by the Ecuadorian Police in the Embassy to take away former Vice President Jorge Glas (2013-2017)protected there against a corruption process.

And he argued that the complaint he filed last Thursday before the ICJ, based in The Hague, seeks to set a precedent.

“The second and also very important thing is that a procedure be defined based on this case, that if any State acts in the way that Ecuador did, the court of justice presents to the United Nations General Assembly its resolution of definitive expulsion of the UN,” he noted.

“If we do not do this, we will not be able to live in a world governed by rules, by laws. I told President (Luiz Inácio) Lula (of Brazil) that it would be the world of gorillas,” he added.

The controversy grew because an Ecuadorian court declared Glas’ arrest last Friday inside the Mexican Embassy as illegal and arbitrary, although he was imprisoned for pending cases.

“Of course, the right to asylum is involved, you know what it has historically meant for Mexico to guarantee protection and asylum to politically persecuted people, it is something historic,” López Obrador now commented.

Hours earlier, the Mexican president expressed in his morning conference that the conflict with Ecuador is “not frivolous” after the Ecuadorian president, Daniel Noboa, said on Monday that he would invite him to eat ceviche or “probably tacos” to fix the crisis. .