Amid diplomatic spat, Mexico grants former Ecuadorian vice president asylum
Al Jazeera
Row comes after Mexican President Lopez Obrador commented on Ecuador’s violence-marred election last year, prompting a rebuke.
Amid a developing diplomatic spat, Mexico has granted asylum to a former Ecuadorian vice president accused of bribery while in office.
In a statement on Friday, Mexico’s foreign ministry said it had offered political asylum to Jorge Glas, who has been staying in Mexico’s embassy in Quito since late last year.
The statement called on Quito to grant “safe passage” to Glas, who had twice been convicted of corruption, to leave the country.
“Once asylum is granted, the asylum state can request the departure of the asylum seeker to a foreign territory, and the territorial state [Ecuador] is obliged to immediately grant the corresponding person safe passage,” Mexico’s foreign ministry wrote.
The ministry also condemned what it described as an “increase in the presence of Ecuadorian police forces” outside of its embassy in Quito. Ecuadorean authorities have continually sought permission to enter the embassy and arrest Glas, who was sentenced to six years in prison in 2017.
