International Court of Justice | Ecuador sues Mexico over asylum granted to ex-vice president Glas

(Quito) Ecuador filed a complaint Monday against Mexico before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for violation of “international obligations” after the asylum granted to former vice-president Jorge Glas, the ministry announced Foreign Affairs.

The highest judicial body of the United Nations, based in The Hague, confirmed in a press release the complaint filed by Quito against Mexico for having notably “illegally granted political asylum to Mr. Glas and for having interfered in his internal affairs “.

Since the beginning of April, Ecuador has been experiencing a diplomatic storm caused by the police raid carried out on the Mexican embassy in Quito to capture the former Ecuadorian vice-president, who is the subject of an investigation for corruption.

The former vice-president of left-wing leader Rafael Correa (2007-2017) had just been granted asylum by Mexico when he was arrested. He is now in a high security prison in Guayaquil (southwest of Ecuador).

Quito had described the asylum granted as “illicit”, alleging that the former vice-president (2013-2017) is under investigation for embezzlement of public funds and that he was the subject of two convictions for corruption.

Mexico severed diplomatic ties with Ecuador after the assault on its embassy, ​​which caused an international outcry.

He also filed a complaint before the ICJ to assert the inviolability of diplomatic representations, established by the Vienna Convention of 1961. From Tuesday, the court must hear the arguments of the two countries in this complaint.

“False and insulting” statements

Ecuador indicated that it had presented its request to the ICJ “for violation by Mexico of a series of international obligations, due to the conduct of this country since December 17, 2023”, date on which Mr. Glas is taking refuge in the Mexican embassy in Quito, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a press release.

Ecuador requests recognition of the fact that Mexico “has not fulfilled, among other things, its obligations not to grant asylum to people prosecuted or tried for common law offenses or convicted by ordinary courts” .

The country is also filing a complaint for the “false and insulting” statements by Mexican President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador which “cast doubt on the legitimacy of the 2023 elections in Ecuador”, by calling into question the assassination of candidate Fernando Villavicencio.

The latter was shot dead after a campaign rally in northern Quito a few days before the August 20 election. The left-wing Mexican president had accused the Ecuadorian authorities of having exploited his assassination to favor the election of the liberal Daniel Noboa, to the detriment of the left-wing candidate Luisa Gonzalez.

With these declarations, Mexico has “violated the principle of non-intervention in the internal affairs of other states”, considers the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in its press release.

For Quito, Mexico “failed in its obligations to respect the laws and regulations of the host state, not to interfere in the internal affairs of the host state and not to use the premises of representation in a manner incompatible with the functions of the diplomatic mission,” the document underlines.

Mexico closed its diplomatic headquarters in Quito indefinitely and Ecuador withdrew its officials from the Mexico City embassy but kept its consulates open.