Mexico wants to suspend Ecuador's membership in the United Nations

Due to the police storming of the Mexican embassy in Quito, Mexico demanded that Ecuador's membership in the United Nations be temporarily suspended. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador announced today that Mexico is demanding, in a lawsuit filed before the International Court of Justice, that the suspension be maintained until Ecuador publicly apologizes for violating international law.

Mexico also demanded that countries committing similar violations be not only suspended from membership in the future, but also completely excluded from the United Nations. This aims to enhance compliance with international law. Last Friday, police officers violently stormed the Mexican Embassy in Quito and arrested former Ecuadorian Vice President Jorge Glas.

Glass, who also holds German citizenship, was sentenced to several years in prison on corruption charges in 2017 and was released two years ago. Fearing arrest again, he fled to the Mexican embassy in Quito in December, apparently seeking asylum there.

“setting a precedent”

Mexican Foreign Minister Alicia Bárcena said Ecuador must be held accountable for the serious violation of international law. They also intend to set a precedent. “We want to put the international justice system to the test,” she said at the president’s daily press conference.

Many countries and organizations have condemned the Ecuadorian police raid on the Mexican embassy as a clear violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. This ensures the inviolability of embassy buildings. In response, Mexico severed diplomatic relations with Ecuador.