Ecuador Suing Mexico Over Asylum for Former Vice President

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Facts

• Ecuador is suing Mexico in the UN’s top international court over the latter's decision to grant political asylum to former Ecuadorian Vice President Jorge Glas, who has been convicted of corruption multiple times.¹
• The complaint to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) comes amid an intensifying rift over Glas’ asylum status in Mexico, which culminated in Ecuador’s April 5 raid of Mexico’s embassy in Quito, where Glas had taken refuge since December.²
• Mexico filed a complaint of its own with the ICJ after Ecuadorian police scaled the embassy’s fence and barged through its doors to arrest Glas, and the Netherlands-based tribunal is set to hear arguments Tuesday and Wednesday.³
• Ecuador claims Mexico violated international conventions and agreements by harboring Glas in its embassy, and it also accuses Mexican Pres. Andrés Manuel López Obrador of interfering in the county’s politics by making 'false and injurious' statements questioning last year’s election.⁴
• Mexico on Tuesday told ICJ judges that the armed raid violated international law, and it seeks to have Ecuador suspended from the UN until it publicly apologizes. While legally binding, ICJ judgments often take years to be delivered and have no enforcement mechanism.⁵
• Previously, an Ecuadorian court ruled Glas' April arrest on embezzlement charges was illegal. However, he remained in detention. Mexico cut diplomatic ties with Ecuador following the raid, and Venezuela and Honduras recalled diplomats from Quito in support of Mexico.⁶

Sources: ¹Reuters, ²Associated Press, ³Al Jazeera, ⁴CNN, ⁵US News & World Report and ⁶Verity.

Narratives

• Narrative A, as provided by Economist. Ecuador's raid of Mexico’s embassy was a defensible move for a country seeking to preserve its sovereignty. Glas is a convicted felon who used his position as vice president to aid and abet drug networks that are destroying Ecuador and he must be held to account. Ecuador may regret raiding the embassy, but Mexico must stay out of Ecuador's political affairs moving forward.
• Narrative B, as provided by ABC. Mexico has no choice but to seek legal satisfaction for Ecuador's unprecedented breach of diplomatic conventions. A country's embassy is sacred diplomatic grounds that can't be violently sieged by other nations. It's crucial for the future of Latin American diplomacy for other Latin countries to side with Mexico and condemn Ecuador.