President Noboa Ordered Entry to Mexican Embassy: Sommerfeld

During an interview on Monday, Foreign Affairs Minister Gabriela Sommerfeld acknowledged that Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa ordered the entry into the Mexican embassy in Quito.

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She said that Noboa had information that former Vice President Jorge Glas was going to leave the embassy on Friday night, which is why he ordered the police raid.

This happened despite the Vienna Convention guaranteeing the inviolability of embassies. However, Sommerfeld justified the security forces' raid by arguing that Mexico was the first to violate both the Vienna Convention and the Asylum Convention.

She said that Mexican authorities did not give concrete responses to Ecuador regarding their requests concerning Glas, who was inside the embassy as a political asylum seeker.

"As a diplomatic channel, we provided all the documentation through the Judiciary to demonstrate the situation of the then-called guest and later asylum seeker," Sommerfeld said, adding that Mexico only responded by saying they were analyzing his case.

The Ecuadorian minister also admitted that the police raid on the Mexican embassy "has a cost for the country, which was also analyzed at the time of the President's decision."

"He dictates foreign policy. What we are responsible for as the Foreign Ministry is advising him and extensively informing him about the actions taken. Of course, the consequences are communicated to him... But he was defending democracy and the country's security. There was clear interference from another state in internal affairs."

In the afternoon of Monday, the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) will meet to receive the Ecuadorian delegation to address "norms of diplomatic relations and asylum," said Sommerfeld, who will not attend the meeting but will send three ambassadors on behalf of Ecuador.

So far, the intrusion of Ecuadorian security forces into the Mexican embassy has been condemned by the OAS, the United Nations, the European Union, and countries such as Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Norway, Paraguay, Portugal, Spain, the United Kingdom, the United States, Uruguay, and Venezuela.