<\/p>\n
The global condemnation of Ecuador\u2019s government for its decision to break into the Mexican Embassy snowballed Sunday with more presidents and other leaders expressing disapproval, shock and dismay.<\/p>\n
The criticism came as Mexico\u2019s ambassador and other personnel arrived in Mexico City on Sunday afternoon after departing Ecuador\u2019s capital, Quito, on a commercial flight. President Andr\u00e9s Manuel L\u00f3pez Obrador severed diplomatic ties with Ecuador immediately after Friday\u2019s raid, which international law experts, presidents and diplomats have deemed a violation of long-established international accords.<\/p>\n
Alicia B\u00e1rcena, Mexico\u2019s secretary of foreign relations, thanked the returning diplomats \u201cfor defending our embassy in Quito even at the risk of their own physical well-being.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot even the dictator Pinochet had dared to enter the Mexican embassy in Chile,\u201d she said Sunday, referring to the late Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. \u201cThey entered violently and without authorization, physically assaulting (diplomats). We energetically condemn it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Police broke through the external doors of the embassy to arrest Jorge Glas<\/a><\/span>, a former vice president who had been residing there since December. He had sought asylum after being indicted on corruption charges<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n B\u00e1rcena said Mexico plans to challenge the raid on Monday at the World Court in The Hague. She added that 18 countries in Latin America, 20 in Europe and the Organization of American States have backed Mexico.<\/p>\n The Spanish foreign ministry in a statement Sunday said, \u201cThe entry by force into the Embassy of Mexico in Quito constitutes a violation of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. We call for respect for international law and harmony between Mexico and Ecuador, brotherly countries to Spain and members of the Ibero-American community.\u201d<\/p>\n A day earlier, the OAS in a statement reminded its members, which include Ecuador and Mexico, of their obligation not to \u201cinvoke norms of domestic law to justify non-compliance with their international obligations.\u201d<\/p>\n U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said \u201cthe United States condemns any violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, and takes very seriously the obligation of host countries under international law to respect the inviolability of diplomatic missions.\u201d He called on the two countries to resolve their differences.<\/p>\n Diplomatic premises are considered foreign soil and \u201cinviolable\u201d<\/a><\/span> under the Vienna treaties and host country law enforcement agencies are not allowed to enter without the permission of the ambassador. People seeking asylum have lived anywhere from days to years at embassies around the world, including at Ecuador\u2019s in London, which housed WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange for seven years<\/a><\/span> as British police could not enter to arrest him.<\/p>\n Glas on Saturday was taken from the attorney general\u2019s office in Quito to the port city of Guayaquil, where he is being housed at a maximum-security prison.<\/p>\n Glas\u2019 attorney, Sonia Vera, told The Associated Press that officers broke into his room in the Mexican embassy and he resisted when they attempted to put his hands behind his back. She said the officers then \u201cknocked him to the floor, kicked him in the head, in the spine, in the legs, the hands,\u201d and when he \u201ccouldn\u2019t walk, they dragged him out.\u201d<\/p>\n Vera on Sunday said the defense team had not been allowed to speak with Glas since his arrest.<\/p>\n Authorities are investigating Glas over alleged irregularities during his management of reconstruction efforts following a powerful earthquake in 2016<\/a><\/span> that killed hundreds of people. He was previously convicted on two separate bribery and corruption<\/a><\/span> cases.<\/p>\n President Daniel Noboa had not spoken publicly about the raid as of Sunday. On Saturday, Ecuador\u2019s Foreign Minister Gabriela Sommerfeld told reporters that the decision to enter the embassy was made by Noboa after considering Glas\u2019 \u201cimminent flight risk\u201d and exhausting all possibilities for diplomatic dialogue with Mexico.<\/p>\n Mexico granted Glas asylum hours before the raid. Sommerfeld said \u201cit is not legal to grant asylum to people convicted of common crimes and by competent courts.\u201d<\/p>\n Noboa became Ecuador\u2019s president last year as the nation battled unprecedented crime tied to drug trafficking<\/a><\/span>. He declared the country in an \u201cinternal armed conflict\u201d in January and designated 20 drug-trafficking gangs<\/a><\/span> as terrorist groups that the military had authorization to \u201cneutralize\u201d within the bounds of international humanitarian law.<\/p>\n