WASHINGTON.- The Organization of American States (OAS) “strongly” condemned the police raid on the Mexican embassy in Quito to arrest former Ecuadorian vice president Jorge Glas, in a resolution approved this Wednesday in Washington.
All countries voted in favor, except Ecuador, which voted against and El Salvador, which abstained.. Mexico, which broke diplomatic relations with the South American country, was absent.
The Mexican delegation also did not attend a meeting of the Permanent Council, the organization’s executive body, convened by Ecuador on Tuesday to present its point of view on the operation.
The vice chancellor of Ecuador, Alejandro Dávalos, on behalf of the government of President Daniel Noboa, accused Mexico there of promoting “impunity” by having granted asylum to Glas despite being “convicted and a fugitive.”
Glas, who was vice president in the government of former socialist president Rafael Correa (2007-2017), is the subject of two sentences for illicit association and bribery and the target of an arrest warrant for the crime of embezzlement.
Over the weekend the OAS had already denounced “any action” that endangers the inviolability of the premises of diplomatic missions, but the text debated on Wednesday morning is more categorical.
It “strongly condemns the intrusion into the facilities of the Mexican embassy in Ecuador and the acts of violence carried out against the integrity and dignity of the diplomatic staff of the mission.”
Calls all countries to “respect” the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and ensure “the inviolability of diplomatic headquarters and their personnel.”
It also asks them to abide by the Diplomatic Asylum Convention and not interfere in the internal affairs of other States.
Finally urges Ecuador and Mexico to “start a dialogue and take immediate actions to resolve this serious matter in a constructive manner” and puts at your disposal “the good offices” of the OAS to facilitate it.
Meanwhile, Mexico postponed the presentation of the complaint against Ecuador until Thursday. This was announced on Wednesday by Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador during his morning conference, explaining that his government decided to postpone the introduction of action against the Andean country for one day to “adjust some things,” but did not offer details.
The decision comes one day after Mexican Foreign Minister Alicia Bárcena asked the thirty countries that make up the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac) to join the lawsuit against Ecuador in the International Court of Justice and the letter they sent to the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, to denounce the incident before the General Assembly of the organization.
AFP and AP Agencies