Almost 2 months after embassy raid, Ecuador is ‘ready’ to talk with Mexico and reach solution

Quito, Ecuador– Nearly two months after police raided the Mexican embassy in Ecuador, the South American country’s government wants to reestablish communication with officials in Mexico and reach a solution to the diplomatic rift that followed the extraordinarily unusual use of force.

Ecuador’s Foreign Minister Gabriela Sommerfeld, in an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday, said her country is “ready” to talk with Mexican officials and that the only non-negotiable issue is the release from prison of the former vice president of Ecuador, Jorge Glas, who was the target. of the April 5 raid.

Glas had been granted political asylum hours before police stormed the embassy in the capital, Quito, found him in a bedroom and dragged him out.

Sommerfeld said Ecuador has already accepted Mexico’s request for a third country to “help as a channel of diplomatic communication,” but declined to identify the nation. A day earlier, Mexican Foreign Minister Alicia Bárcena told a radio station that the third country “most likely” will be Switzerland.

The raid, which sparked immediate condemnation from governments around the world against Ecuador, led warring nations to file complaints against each other at the International Court of Justice.

Diplomatic facilities are considered foreign soil and “inviolable” under the Vienna treaties and law enforcement agencies of the host country cannot enter without the ambassador’s permission.

Glas, convicted of two corruption cases, had lived in the diplomatic compound since mid-December while on parole. Days after the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that he had appeared at the embassy and requested “entry and safeguarding,” a judge revoked his conditional freedom and ordered him to serve the remainder of his sentence, which totals two and 11 years. months.

Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa ordered authorities to raid the embassy, ​​a measure he defended as necessary “to protect national security.” His government has argued that Glas was wanted because of his criminal convictions, not for political reasons, and has accused Mexico of violating the Vienna treaties by granting him asylum.

Meanwhile, the government of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has conditioned any approach to the release of Glas, who is being held in a maximum security prison in the port city of Guayaquil.

Mexico closed its embassy and two consulates immediately after the raid. Bárcena said that the third country that will help nations in conflict “will safeguard” the embassy and the residence of the Mexican ambassador and will facilitate the transfer of the belongings of 18 officials.

Sommerfeld said trade between the two countries continues and so does “care for the citizens of both countries,” which has been facilitated by other embassies and international organizations.

Asked about the sustained migration of Ecuadorians to the United States, she acknowledged that “there has been a strong increase” in migration in the last three years, which she attributed mainly to the lack of employment and security.

Sommerfeld said officials estimate that about 2.4 million Ecuadorians live outside their home country. That figure represents more than 10% of the country’s population.

Official records show that just over 123,000 Ecuadorians did not return from their trips abroad last year. During the same period, Sommerfeld said, about 120,000 Ecuadorians were detained at the U.S.-Mexico border.

The Noboa government “is trying to solve the root problems: we need security, employment and study,” he said.