Rafael Correa calls for a “firm response” from the international community to the invasion of the Mexican embassy in Quito

On Tuesday, former Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa urged the European Union and the rest of the international community to “political pressure” for the Ecuadorian government of Daniel Noboa to grant safe passage to former vice president Jorge Glas.

“I ask Europe and the world to (implement) the necessary political and judicial pressure, because all this will not stop with a simple wake-up call, for the Noboa government to give safe passage to Jorge Blas,” Correa said in a press conference at the European Parliament together with the Spanish MEP from Izquierda Unida, Manu Pineda.

The former Ecuadorian president (2007-2017) warned that “there are a kidnapped personwhose life is in danger, whose human rights have been violated”, including the asylum that Mexico had granted him, whose embassy in Quito entered the police force last Friday to arrest Jorge Glas, who has been hospitalized since Monday in a military hospital for health reasons, apparently due to not eating food.

Glas had taken refuge in that diplomatic post since last year, to avoid ending up in prison for a corruption case. According to unconfirmed versions, this Monday he would have suffered a heart failure due to an overdose of drugs.

“This goes beyond the left and the right. This violates the principles of civilization, principles such as the inviolability of the diplomatic headquarters, principles such as the sacredness of political asylum”, underlined Correa, expressing the desire that the majority of the political groups of the European Parliament support the initiatives that Izquierda Unida will undertake to put pressure on Quito.

In this sense, Pineda announced that his political group will ask for a debate in the plenary session of the European Parliament on the situation in Ecuador and will ask that the European Union activate the dispute settlement mechanism provided for in a clause of the Twenty-Seven Association Agreement with the Latin American country.

“I hope that the right, especially the European far right, does not also make this ideology and since it is against a left movement, a left vice president, (they think so) it is good that they kill him while he is alive. There are things that go far beyond ideology, if we have any political decency,” Correa said.

Correa attacks Daniel Noboa

“Let’s be clear, we are not even faced with fascism, we are faced with barbarism,” warned Correa, underlining that this “brutal” action. of the Noboa government has electoral motivations because the president thought it would give him “popularity” in the face of the plebiscite of the 21st promoted by the Executive on the issues of security, investments and employment.

“If we convey all this to you, the principles of civilization, the very principles of civilization, will be in danger. For the good of international coexistence, for the validity of human rights, for my country, Europe, the world, this is enough “, shouted Correa, who alluded to Glas’ “kidnapping” as “the icing on the cake” of the “persecution” he also suffered.

Correa has lived in Belgium since 2017, where he has refugee status since 2022, denouncing political persecution and ‘lawfare’ (use of the judicial apparatus against political opponents), the same reason that brought Glas, who has two current convictions for corruption and is accused in a new case.

According to the Noboa government, Mexico violated international treaties on the right of asylum by giving refuge to a person accused of embezzlement and forced to return to prison to serve two sentences for corruption and criminal conspiracy.

For its part, Mexico maintains its position of frontal rejection to the attack on its embassy in Quito and chose to resolve the crisis with complaints before international bodies such as the Organization of American States (OAS) and the International Court of Justice.

The OAS itself will meet this Tuesday, at the request of Ecuador, to discuss the controversial assault on the Mexican embassy in Quito.

Correa stressed today that Ecuador will be represented at an official level at the meeting because Noboa feels he has “the implicit support of the United States, because he made a statement, but it was very lukewarm.” “They believe they will go unpunished and this depends on the international community. We cannot create such a precedent,” she concluded.

Source: EFE and AFP