Venezuela Closes Its Embassy In Ecuador To Protest The Police Raid On The Mexican Embassy There

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has ordered the closure of his country’s embassy and consulates in Ecuador in solidarity with Mexico in its protest over a raid by Ecuadorian authorities on the Mexican Embassy in Quito.

Maduro and other presidents participating in a virtual meeting of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States expressed their support for Mexico’s request to have the United Nations suspend Ecuador from the world body over the 5th April raid.

But President Maduro was the only one to announce the closure of diplomatic outposts and recall



of personnel.

Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa ordered authorities to raid the Mexican Embassy to arrest the country’s former Vice President Jorge Glas, a convicted criminal and fugitive who had been living there since December. Mexico granted him asylum hours before police found Glas in a bedroom and dragged him out.

The extraordinarily unusual use of force drew immediate condemnation from many governments because diplomatic premises are considered foreign soil and “inviolable” under the Vienna Treaties.