On March 4, the Government of Ecuador declared the Mexican ambassador in that country, Raquel Serur Smeke, persona non grata after President Andrés Manuel López Obrador spoke about the presidential elections in the South American territory.
Thus, the tensions between the governments of Ecuador and Mexico, which originated three months ago due to the case of former vice president Jorge Glas, reached their highest point this Thursday, April 4, 2024, after the Government of Daniel Noboa expelled the ambassador of Mexico.
The reason for this decision was that the Mexican president made statements about the murder of former Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio and the apparent electoral consequences of that crime.
It was through a statement, published this Thursday, April 4, 2024, that the Foreign Ministry reported that the Government of Ecuador declared the Ambassador of Mexico, Raquel Serur Smeke, persona non grata, according to article 9 of the Convention of Vienna on Diplomatic Relations, Ecuadorian media report.
That decision is made appealing to the principle of “non-intervention” and in the context of the “unfortunate statements” of the president of Mexico, regarding the 2023 elections in the country.
“Ecuador is still grieving for this unfortunate event that caused shock in Ecuadorian society and threatened democracy, peace, and security,” said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ecuador.
“The country continues to face organized crime, which threatens the State, its democratic institutions, and its population,” he added.
President López Obrador, who shares with former President Rafael Correa, described the 2023 elections in Ecuador as “strange”, in his morning conference on Wednesday, April 3, and without identifying her, he alluded to the fact that the Correismo candidate, Luisa González, had the upper hand until Villavicencio was murdered.
La Cancillería del Ecuador informa: pic.twitter.com/68L06w8tiF
— Cancillería del Ecuador 🇪🇨 (@CancilleriaEc) April 4, 2024
The president criticized the press for its coverage of the recent murder of a candidate in Guanajuato and suggested that the same thing happened with the Villavicencio case in Ecuador to hold Luisa González responsible for the crime.
“The candidate of the progressive force was about 10 points ahead. A candidate who speaks ill of the candidate who is at the top is suddenly murdered and the candidate who was at the top falls and the candidate who was in second rises, but the candidate who remains after this murder as a suspect continues campaigning in difficult circumstances”, said the Mexican president.
He also mentioned that, after this event, there was an atmosphere of violence, as he spoke of the candidates mobilizing with vests. “The most unfortunate thing is that the violence continues. “They used the moment,” he added. In those elections, Daniel Noboa was elected president of Ecuador.
The diplomatic impasse between the two countries occurred three months after the former vice president convicted of corruption, Jorge Glas (vice president of Ecuador in the governments of Rafael Correa and Lenín Moreno), took refuge in the Mexican Embassy in Quito to request protection and political asylum to the Government of López Obrador.
It must be remembered that on March 2, Mexico did not authorize the entry of the Ecuadorian police into its embassy to arrest Jorge Glas, who must serve sentences for embezzlement of funds during the Government of Rafael Correa.
Former Vice President Glas is subject to a location and arrest warrant, issued in the criminal proceedings against him and is required by justice for the case called reconstruction of Manabí.
After the murder of Fernando Villavicencio, documents hacked by the Guacamaya group to the Secretariat of National Defense (Sedena), revealed that, at least since 2021, the Mexican cartels of Sinaloa and Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) have operated in Ecuador for trafficking of drugs to the United States.
San Miguel Times
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