CELAC holds ministerial meeting on Mexico, Ecuador diplomatic crisis

Member states of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) on Tuesday held an online ministerial meeting under the presidency of Honduras to discuss the diplomatic crisis between Ecuador and Mexico over the storming of the Mexican Embassy in Quito.

Mexico's Foreign Minister Alicia Barcena called for CELAC members at the meeting to support Mexico's appeal to the International Court of Justice. She said the country would send a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres over the incident.

Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Gabriela Sommerfeld said that Mexico had failed to comply with many of the provisions of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and firmly rejected Mexico's "provocations" against Ecuador at the meeting.

CELAC also announced it would convene a summit of presidents on Friday to address the diplomatic crisis.

The crisis between Mexico and Ecuador broke out on April 4, when Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry declared the Mexican Ambassador to Ecuador Raquel Serur Smeke "persona non grata" and told her to leave the country "soon," in response to comments made by Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador about Ecuador's electoral consequences.

At that juncture, Mexico announced that it would seek to grant political asylum to former Ecuadorian Vice President Jorge Glas, who had been taking refuge in the Mexican embassy in Quito since last December, which caused Ecuadorian police to forcibly enter the embassy on April 5 to arrest him.

Lopez Obrador announced the breaking of diplomatic ties with Ecuador on social media platform X later that night, calling the Ecuadorian move "a flagrant violation of international law and the sovereignty of Mexico."

Ecuador's actions against the Mexican embassy were publicly condemned by at least 20 countries in the Americas, as well as the European Union, UN, the Organization of American States and the CELAC.

(With input from agencies)

(Cover: Ecuadorian police attempt to enter the Mexican embassy in Quito to arrest Ecuador's former Vice President Jorge Glas, April 5, 2024. /CFP)