By Tim Young
In a move that has shocked Latin American governments, Ecuadorian police stormed the Mexican embassy in Quito on April 5th and kidnapped Jorge Glas, former Ecuadorian Vice-President in Rafael Correa’s progressive administration, in clear violation of Mexico’s sovereignty and international law.
Hours before, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) had formally granted Glas political asylum in recognition of the political persecution he faced in Ecuador – a fate also suffered by Correa and other members of his government.
In his decade-long (2007-17) administration, Correa, aided by Glas as his Vice-President between 2013 and 2017, led a programme of major reforms in the country. Known as Ecuador’s “Citizens’ Revolution”, over one million people were lifted out of poverty as unemployment was slashed to 4.3% and the minimum wage doubled.
Hundreds of thousands were able to access social security for the first time. Outsourcing was outlawed, health spending per person doubled and high levels of public investment in higher education saw a doubling of students from Indigenous backgrounds gaining degrees.
But since then, progress has been reversed. Unexpectedly, Correa’s chosen successor Lenin Moreno steadily dismantled these progressive reforms, cosied up to the US and launched a campaign of what has been termed ‘lawfare’ against members and officials of the Correa administration.
As well as Correa himself, this included Jorge Glas, who served as Moreno’s Vice-President for a few months before being prosecuted and convicted, leading to a ‘cat and mouse’ prison ordeal over six years. In December 2023, while out of prison but prohibited from leaving the country, Glas entered the Mexican embassy in Quito and asked for political asylum, arguing he was being politically persecuted.
Following his abduction from the Mexican Embassy, Glas was taken to a high security prison and held without access to his lawyer. It has been alleged that he has been subjected to physical and psychological torture.
Condemnation of this extraordinary transgression of international law has been widespread. Mexican President AMLO’s immediate response was to declare: “This is a flagrant violation of international law and Mexico’s sovereignty, for which I have instructed our foreign minister to issue a statement on this authoritarian act, proceed legally and immediately declare the suspension of diplomatic relations with the government of Ecuador.”
AMLO later said of Ecuador’s action: “A government doesn’t do that unless it feels it has support from other governments or powers. That’s why we will take this matter to the International Court of Justice. Mexico is to be respected.”
The Mexican President regards the assault on his country’s embassy as part of a US-based media campaign orchestrated against his administration, which has included publishing investigations by the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) into alleged links between international drug trafficking and the AMLO administration.
Other Latin American countries have condemned the assault. Brazilian President Lula and Chilean President Gabriel Boric and both termed the police raid as “unacceptable.” Bolivian President Luis Arce denounced it as having “no precedent in the history of international law”, with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro calling it a “fascist act.”
The 10-member strong Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA-TCP) declared the raid and kidnapping constituted “serious and unprecedented violations of international law” which should be rejected by civilized countries around the world.
Similarly, the Alliance for Development in Democracy (ADD), formed by the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica and Panama, expressed their deep regret at “the inexcusable violation by the government of Ecuador.”
The Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) has asked its member states to take up the issue, while Germany, Panama, Honduras, Mexico and Cuba all withdrew their ambassadors in protest at the raid.
President Daniel Noboa who authorised the raid and kidnapping is also facing internal political opposition as a result. Former presidential candidate Andres Arauz of the Citizen Revolution Movement, who lost to right-wing former banker Guillermo Lasso in Ecuador’s 2021 presidential election, announced that it would file an impeachment request against Noboa, a right-wing businessman turned-politician for his actions.
Elected in October 2023, President Noboa has exacerbated Ecuador’s economic woes, agreeing to cut public spending by $1bn at the IMF’s request. Under previous right-wing administrations increasing poverty has been breeding a rise in organised crime and a rise in homicides from 13.7 per 100,000 people in 2021 to 44.5 in 2023.
The flagrant violation of international law by Ecuador should be condemned by the trade union and solidarity movements, as should the use of lawfare as an anti-democratic practice.
Labour Friends of Progressive Latin America 
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