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Amid diplomatic spat, Mexico grants former Ecuadorian vice president asylum | News

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Amid a producing diplomatic spat, Mexico has granted asylum to a former Ecuadorian vice president accused of bribery when in office.

In a statement on Friday, Mexico’s international ministry explained it had provided political asylum to Jorge Glas, who has been remaining in Mexico’s embassy in Quito considering the fact that late last 12 months.

The statement identified as on Quito to grant “safe passage” to Glas, who experienced 2 times been convicted of corruption, to go away the nation.

“Once asylum is granted, the asylum state can request the departure of the asylum seeker to a overseas territory, and the territorial point out [Ecuador] is obliged to right away grant the corresponding particular person safe and sound passage,” Mexico’s overseas ministry wrote.

The ministry also condemned what it described as an “increase in the presence of Ecuadorian police forces” exterior of its embassy in Quito. Ecuadorean authorities have constantly sought permission to enter the embassy and arrest Glas, who was sentenced to six decades in jail in 2017.

The announcement has occur at a moment of heightened pressure for the two nations. On Thursday, Ecuador declared Mexico’s ambassador a “persona non grata”, in reaction to comments manufactured by Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

What did Lopez Obrador say?

The remarks that established off the diplomatic incident had been aired on Wednesday, in the course of Lopez Obrador’s daily information briefing.

Talking to reporters, the still left-leaning Mexican president implied that violence experienced affected the outcome of Ecuador’s latest presidential elections.

“In a incredibly odd way, there were being elections in Ecuador,” Lopez Obrador described. He then proceeded to address the assassination of Ecuadorean presidential applicant Fernando Villavicencio in August 2023, weeks ahead of the very first spherical of voting.

Lopez Obrador implied that frontrunner Luisa Gonzalez in the end missing Ecuador’s election mainly because of Villavicencio’s murder and the media speculation it developed.

Villavicencio had been a longtime anticorruption campaigner and was a vocal critic of Gonzalez’s still left-wing social gathering, the Citizen Revolution Movement.

“A male prospect who speaks unwell of the woman applicant who was on major is out of the blue murdered,” Lopez Obrador stated, without having naming both Villavicencio or Gonzalez. “And the woman prospect who was at the prime falls.”

In the operate-off vote in October, Gonzalez narrowly shed the Ecuadorian presidency to centre-proper businessman Daniel Noboa, a relative newcomer to countrywide politics and the heir to a banana market fortune.

What was the response?

The Ecuadorian overseas ministry followed Lopez Obrador’s statements on Thursday by declaring Mexico’s ambassador to Ecuador, Raquel Serur Smeke, persona non grata and telling her to leave the nation “soon”.

It also acknowledged Villavicencio’s assassination, which took area outside the house of a political rally in Quito on August 9.

“Ecuador is continue to mourning this regrettable function that prompted shock in Ecuadorian culture and threatens democracy, peace and stability,” the ministry wrote. It also called Lopez Obrador’s statements on the matter “unfortunate”.

Supporters of the Mexican president, having said that, defended his remarks, saying that he was making an attempt to evaluate the situation in Ecuador to the the latest violence Mexico has faced in the run-up to its June 2 elections.

Quite a few community candidates in Mexico have previously been killed, like Bertha Gisela Gaytan, a prospect representing Lopez Obrador’s Morena bash in the race to be mayor of Celaya.

Critics have also pointed out that Lopez Obrador’s statements appeared to be largely significant of the media. In his Wednesday remarks, Lopez Obrador accused media businesses of whipping up a “heated atmosphere” in Ecuador before the vote.

On Friday, Lopez Obrador said Mexico would not expel Ecuador’s ambassador in retaliation.

Speaking shortly ahead of his overseas ministry made the announcement on Glas, he shrugged off the recommendation that there was any dispute in between the two nations.

“For there to be a struggle, there need to be two events included,” he mentioned. He also named Mexico’s ambassador to Ecuador, Serur Smeke, an “exceptional person”.

Identified for his outspokenness, Lopez Obrador has spurred tensions in recent a long time with his responses about regional politics. Past calendar year, for occasion, he provoked ire in Peru following supplying asylum to impeached previous President Pedro Castillo, who is now in jail.

He also questioned the legitimacy of Castillo’s successor, present President Dina Boluarte. “So extensive as there is not democratic normalcy in Peru, we really do not want financial or trade relations with them,” he said.

Peru’s Congress responded by declaring Lopez Obrador a “persona non grata”.



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