“Not even in the worst dictatorships was a country’s embassy violated,” says Rafael Correa about the arrest of former vice-president of Ecuador

The former president of Ecuador Rafael Correa, who governed alongside former vice-president Jorge David Glas Espinel between 2013 and 2017, spoke about the arrest of his former companion, detained this Friday (5), in Quito.

“What the Government of [Daniel] What Noboa did is unprecedented in Latin American history,” wrote former president Rafael Correa on the social network X after Ecuadorian police entered the Mexican embassy in Quito and arrested former vice president Jorge Glas, who was there. since December 2023.

The former president added: “Not even in the worst dictatorships was a country's embassy violated. We do not live in a State of Law, but in a 'State of Barbarism', with an improvised man who confuses the Homeland with one of his banana plantations”, he said, in reference to the Ecuadorian president, son of multimillionaire Álvaro Noboa, tycoon in the bananas.

“We hold Daniel Noboa responsible for the safety and physical and psychological integrity of former vice-president Jorge Glas. To Mexico, its people and its government, our apologies and eternal admiration. Until victory always!”, he concluded.

In another post, Correa called Noboa's government “immoral” and “ignorant.”

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Compatriots:
What is happening in Noboa's Government has no precedents in Latin American history.
Never in the worst dictatorships has the embassy of a country been violated.
We do not live in a State of derecho, but in a State of barbarism, with an improvisation that confuses the Patria…

— Rafael Correa (@MashiRafael) April 6, 2024

Diplomatic clash

Glas was convicted twice in Ecuador on corruption charges. In a press release on Friday, Mexico's Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that the country had decided to grant political asylum to Ecuador's former vice president – ​​a move that Ecuador's Foreign Minister Gabriela Sommerfield quickly criticized as “interference in internal affairs”.

Before Mexico granted asylum, the two countries exchanged a series of diplomatic provocations.

The Mexican ambassador in Quito, Raquel Serur Smeke, was declared “persona non grata” in Ecuador on Thursday (4), after the president of Mexico criticized the recent Ecuadorian elections.

The 2023 runoff in Ecuador took place in a “very strange” way, López Obrador said, suggesting that presidential candidates used the media, the assassination of candidate Fernando Villavicencio and general violence to their advantage during the campaign.

In a statement published on It also reiterated its focus on ensuring “respect for the dignity and sovereignty of the Ecuadorian State” and “non-intervention in the internal affairs of other States”.

With information from CNN Español and Internacional