The government of Mexico accused Ecuador of spying on diplomatic personnel in the Embassy in Quito before the assault that occurred on April 5 to arrest the former vice president Jorge Glas.
“Mexico alleges that by intervening and listening to private communications from the Mexican Embassy and its membersby deploying police, special forces and military personnel outside the embassy, to to bully and constantly disturb the members of its diplomatic mission, the forced and violent invasion at the Mexican Embassy by Ecuadorian special forces on the night of Friday, April 5, 2024, including the acts of violence committed against the deputy head of Mission and harassment committed against one of the members of the diplomatic staff, and for kidnapping the former vice president Jorge David Glas Espinel, who was in the Embassy and had been granted asylum, Ecuador has violated the rights of Mexico under the customary and conventional norms of international law“, reads the demand that the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador presented this Thursday at the international Court of Justice against the Ecuadorian government.
The document, the details of which the President advanced in his morning conference this Thursday, requests “suspend Ecuador as a member of the United Nationsuntil it issues a public statement of apology, recognizing its violations of the fundamental principles and norms of international law.”
Regarding espionage at the embassy, the Mexican government indicates that on April 4, Roberto Cansecodeputy chief of mission of the embassy in Quito, “noticed that a tactical military vehicle was parked outside the Mexican Embassy. When he shared his concerns and a photograph of the vehicle with members of the Embassy, they mentioned that It was a military vehicle used to intercept mobile communications”. Annex 5 of the application includes the photographs of the vehicleas stated in the document.
As its representatives in the lawsuit, Mexico designated Alejandro Celorio Alcántaralegal advisor of the Secretary of Foreign Relations (SRE); Carmen Moreno Toscanoambassador to the Kingdom of Netherlands; Miguel Angel Reyes Moncayo, deputy legal advisor to the SRE, and Natalia Jimenez Alegríalegal advisor of the permanent mission of Mexico to the United Nations.
In response, the Secretary General of the United Nations Organization, Antonio Guterressaid this Thursday that the eventual expulsion of Ecuador from the UNlike all matters relating to membership, It depends on the Member States.
However, Guterres, through his spokesman Stéphane Dujarric, tried to mitigate the bilateral conflict stating that he hopes that “theTensions between Ecuador and Mexico are addressed through dialogue”.
He also recalled that the UN has expressed its “condemnation for the flagrant violations of international law (…) when the embassy (Mexican in Quito) was attacked” The last friday.
The Mexican demand does not seem easy to meet judging by the UN’s own history.: since its founding, only one State has been expelled: it was in 1971, when Taiwan was stripped off of the seat from the Republic of Chinawhich was instead delivered to the People’s Republic of China.
Ecuador is not only a full member of the UN but at this very moment has a seat on the Security Council within the quota of Latin American and Caribbean countries, a position that occupied since June 2022.
Internationalist experts point out that The lawsuit could take years or months to resolve.
With information from EFE