Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro closed his country’s embassy and consulates in Ecuador to support Mexico after Ecuadorian police raided the Mexican Embassy in Quito.
Maduro and other presidents in a virtual meeting supported Mexico’s request to kick Ecuador out of the United Nations because of the raid on April 5th. But Maduro was the only one who said he would close embassies and bring back staff.
“Everyone has strongly condemned Ecuador’s move,” Maduro said. “No one is defending this cruel act in the world today. ”
Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa told police to go to the Mexican Embassy to capture their ex-Vice President Jorge Glas, who broke the law and had been hiding there since December. Mexico gave him permission to stay just a few hours before the police found Glas in a bedroom and took him out by force.
The very unusual use of force was strongly criticized by governments worldwide because diplomatic buildings are seen as foreign territory and should not be violated according to the Vienna treaties.
Noboa did not go to the meeting on Tuesday. He said last week that he allowed the raid to protect national security. His government says that Glas was wanted for his criminal convictions, not for political reasons. They also accused Mexico of breaking the Vienna treaties by giving Glas asylum.
Mexico stopped talking to Ecuador after the raid and told its diplomats to come back home. It wanted to get support from the CELAC meeting to help with its case at the UN and in front of the International Court of Justice.
Honduras President Xiomara Castro, who is in charge of CELAC, started the meeting on Tuesday by reading a suggested message criticizing Ecuador’s actions. Then she showed a video of Ecuadorian officials entering Mexico’s Embassy, with exciting music playing.
The President of Mexico, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, said again that Ecuador should be kicked out of the United Nations until it says sorry and promises not to do it again.
Lopez Obrador said that if we don’t do this, we won’t be able to live in a world with rules and laws. “We would be living in a world with gorillas. ”
The president of Mexico said that even Augusto Pinochet, who was the leader of Chile from 1973 to 1990, did not attack Mexico’s embassy when Chilean people who opposed him went there for safety. Lopez Obrador said that Pinochet was too scared to attack our embassy, the scary ruler.
Maduro said he has asked all diplomats to come back to Venezuela until international law is back in Ecuador.
Maduro said that Glas, who is currently in a very secure prison in the port city of Guayaquil, should be taken back to the Mexican embassy and given asylum because of his political beliefs.
Noboa got more criticism for not showing up at CELAC’s online meeting. While leaders were unsure about his choice, he shared a video on Instagram talking about making law enforcement better. He also posted another video declaring an emergency for the country’s electricity sector during long power outages in Quito.
Maduro said that he should have come and taken responsibility for himself in front of Ecuador, Latin America, the Caribbean, and the world, but he did not show up. “I’m from Venezuela and I can tell you that he’s hiding. The people of Ecuador need to know this. ”
The Venezuela Embassy in Quito looked shut on Tuesday. People waiting outside, along with reporters, couldn’t get answers from embassy staff while trying to take care of paperwork.
The Mexican government did not answer right away when asked for their thoughts on Venezuela’s announcement.
During Maduro’s 11 years as president, over 7. 7 million people from Venezuela have moved out of the country. Many of them have gone to live in other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. Ecuador has the sixth-most Venezuelan migrants.
“Ecuadorian leaders and groups that help migrants believe that there are 475,000 people from Venezuela living in Ecuador. ” More than 231,000 people live in Ecuador legally. This information is from the 2023 census.