MEXICO CITY –
The Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, ordered this Tuesday the closure of his country’s embassy and consulates in Ecuador in solidarity with Mexico in its protest against a raid by Ecuadorian authorities on the Mexican embassy in Quito.
Maduro and other presidents who participated in a virtual meeting of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States expressed support for Mexico’s request that the United Nations suspend Ecuador from the world body over the April 5 attack. But Maduro was the only one who announced the closure of diplomatic posts and the withdrawal of personnel.
“The condemnation has been unanimous, total, absolute,” said Maduro, referring to the criticism that Ecuador’s measure has provoked. “No one in this world today comes out to defend this barbaric act.”
Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa ordered authorities to raid the Mexican embassy to arrest the country’s former vice president, Jorge Glas, a convicted criminal and fugitive who had lived there since December. Mexico granted him asylum hours before police found Glas in a bedroom and dragged him outside.
The extraordinarily unusual use of force drew immediate condemnation from governments around the world because diplomatic facilities are considered foreign soil and “inviolable” under the Vienna treaties.
Noboa, who did not participate in Tuesday’s meeting, said last week that he authorized the raid “to protect national security.” His government has argued that Glas was wanted because of his criminal convictions for corruption and not for political reasons and has accused Mexico of violating the Vienna treaties by granting him asylum.
Mexico broke diplomatic relations with Ecuador immediately after the attack and withdrew its diplomatic mission. He hoped to use the CELAC meeting to assemble a unified front for his case both at the UN and before the International Court of Justice.
Honduran President Xiomara Castro, who currently heads CELAC, opened Tuesday’s meeting by reading a proposed declaration condemning Ecuador’s actions. She then presented a video of Ecuadorian authorities breaking into the Mexican Embassy, along with dramatic music.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador followed, repeating his demand that Ecuador be suspended from the United Nations until it apologizes and promises never to do it again.
“If we don’t do this, we will not be able to live in a world governed by rules, by laws,” López Obrador said. “We would be living in the world of gorillas.”
The Mexican president cited Augusto Pinochet, who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990, and said that not even Pinochet stormed the Mexican embassy when Chilean dissidents sought refuge there. “Pinochet did not dare to invade our embassy, that fearsome dictator,” López Obrador said.
Maduro said he has ordered all diplomatic personnel to return to Venezuela “until international law is expressly reestablished in Ecuador.”
Maduro said Glas, who is now detained in a maximum security prison in the port city of Guayaquil, “should be returned to the Mexican embassy and have his political asylum recognized.”
Noboa received additional criticism for not showing up at the virtual CELAC meeting. As leaders questioned his decision, he posted a video on Instagram promoting improvements to law enforcement infrastructure and another announcing an emergency declaration covering the country’s electrical sector amid hours-long power outages in Quito. .
“He should have presented himself and assumed his responsibility in front of Ecuador, in front of Latin America, in front of the Caribbean, in front of the world and he has not shown his face,” said Maduro. “I can say from Venezuela that she has gone into hiding and the people of Ecuador should know it.”
The Venezuelan embassy in Quito appeared closed on Tuesday. People trying to handle the paperwork remained outside, along with journalists, unable to get answers from embassy staff.
Mexico’s Foreign Affairs Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Venezuela’s announcement.
During the 11 years of Maduro’s presidency, more than 7.7 million Venezuelans have left their home country and most have settled elsewhere in Latin America and the Caribbean. Ecuador has the sixth largest concentration of Venezuelan immigrants.
Ecuadorian officials and non-governmental organizations that help migrants estimate that 475,000 Venezuelans live in Ecuador. Of them, more than 231,000 live permanently and legally there, according to Ecuador’s 2023 census.