Venezuela orders the closure of the embassy in Ecuador

The president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, announced this Tuesday (April 16, 2024) the closure of the country’s embassy in Ecuador in response to the invasion of the Mexican representation in Quito. The episode resulted in the arrest of former Ecuadorian vice president Jorge Glas, who was taking refuge there.

In his participation in the virtual summit meeting of Celac (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) this Tuesday (April 16), Maduro announced that he also decided to close the consulates in Quito and Guayaquil, the largest city in the country, “until International Law is expressly restored in Ecuador”.

Maduro ordered diplomatic teams to immediately return to Venezuela. In his statement, Maduro also classified the invasion by Ecuadorian agents as “barbarism”.

According to Maduro, Venezuela is “completely agree” with Mexico’s proposal to “expel” UN Ecuador (United Nations) until the country apologizes to the international community.

“The political asylum of former vice president Jorge Glas must be recognized so that he can travel to Mexico and recover his health”he stated. “We stand alongside the dignity of the Mexican people”.

The speech is in reference to the process presented by the Mexican government at the ICJ (International Court of Justice) in which it requests that Ecuador be suspended from the UN until there is a “public apology” and a commitment to non-repetition and repair of damage.

For Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the formalization of the complaint at the UN judicial body in The Hague (Netherlands) aims to establish a precedent to prevent “authoritarian acts”.

Mexico announced the “immediate break” of diplomatic relations with Ecuador after the military operation at the embassy on April 5. Glas had received political asylum there, where he had been since December 2023. he claimed “political persecution” by the country’s judicial authorities.

Shortly after the operation, Mexico’s Foreign Secretary stated that Ecuador violated the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and harmed the Mexican diplomatic corps in the country.

According to the treaty, the locations of one country’s missions in another – such as embassies and consulates – are considered inviolable.

Therefore, the entry of State agents depends on the authorization of the head of the foreign mission. In this case, the Ecuadorian police would have to request permission from the Mexican ambassador to enter the facilities.