By Maria Josefina Arce
"The premises of the mission are inviolable. Agents of the receiving State may not enter them without the consent of the head of the mission", clearly states Article 22 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which Ecuador violated in recent days by forcibly breaking into the Mexican embassy in Quito, the capital, to arrest former Vice President Jorge Glas, who had been granted political asylum by the Mexican authorities.
Unacceptable, unjustifiable, worrying and unusual are some of the adjectives given to the action of the government presided by Daniel Noboa, which has provoked an energetic and broad rejection from Latin America and regional and international organizations such as the UN.
The Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres, pointed out that violations of this principle endanger normal international relations, so necessary for the advancement of cooperation between States.
In view of the criticized action, Mexico broke diplomatic ties with Ecuador, which has tried to justify its unjustifiable position with an alleged risk of imminent flight of Glas, persecuted since he left his position as vice president six years ago by the Ecuadorian justice system, which accuses him of being allegedly involved in corruption cases.
The truth is that the Andean nation has failed to comply with its international commitments. Let's remember that since 1964 it ratified the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
But in addition, its action, experts have pointed out, sets a serious precedent, endangers the embassies of all the States in the world and breaks all the patterns of behavior of traditional diplomacy.
The fact has also been questioned in Ecuadorian territory by several entities and organizations. The Citizen Revolution movement expressed its condemnation and pointed out that invading an embassy is attacking foreign soil.
The National Assembly, on the other hand, summoned for next Wednesday the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Defense, Government and Interior to give explanations on the assault to the Mexican diplomatic headquarters.
CELAC, Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, and the OAS, Organization of American States, have also called for urgent meetings to analyze the current situation.
Ecuador has triggered a diplomatic crisis in Latin America. Many voices have been raised to condemn its actions and call for a dialogue between the two nations to resolve their differences in strict compliance with international law.
