The government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) condemned this Saturday (6) the action of the Ecuadorian police forces who invaded the Mexican Embassy in the country’s capital, Quito, on Friday night (5). The positioning took place less than 24 hours after the act, while it is still silent about the decision of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro to promulgate the law that annexes the Essequibo region, in Guyana, to the country last Wednesday (3).
In a note published this Saturday morning (6), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs states that it “condemns, in the strongest terms, the action taken by Ecuadorian police forces at the Mexican Embassy in Quito”. The country’s police raided the diplomatic representation to arrest the country’s former vice president, Jorge Glas, who requested asylum at the end of 2023 after being sentenced to six years in prison for corruption.
“The measure carried out by the Ecuadorian government constitutes a serious precedent, and must be subject to strong repudiation, whatever the justification for its implementation. The Brazilian government finally expresses its solidarity with the Mexican government”, added Itamaraty in the note (see in full).
The ministry also recalls that the invasion of the embassy violates the American Convention on Diplomatic Asylum and the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations “which, in its article 22, provides that the locations of a diplomatic mission are inviolable and can be accessed by agents of the receiving State only with the consent of the Head of Mission”.
President Lula stated, on social media, that he sympathizes with his Mexican counterpart. “All my solidarity with the president and friend Lópes Obrador.”
The Mexican government announced that it had suspended diplomatic relations with Ecuador following the invasion. The country had granted political asylum after Glas alleged that he was a victim of persecution by the Ecuador Attorney General’s Office.
Rapid demonstration on one side, silence on the other
The Brazilian government’s immediate stance on the fact in Ecuador contrasts with the silence on Nicolás Maduro’s action in promulgating the unilateral law annexing the Guyanese region of Essequibo, in which there was a clear agreement signed at the end of last year that the dispute would be negotiated diplomatically.
Lula is the main guarantor of Venezuela’s reinsertion into international geopolitics, but he began to rehearse a change of tone last week after the country’s electoral court prevented the registration of opponent Corina Yoris for this year’s presidential race.
Neither Lula nor the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have commented on the annexation which, according to the law promulgated by Maduro, even allows the use of “all the national and military power of the country”, according to Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino. Lopez.
The silence also contrasts with the position that was being adopted by Brazil of being a moderator of the negotiations between Nicolás Maduro and the Guyanese president, Irfaan Ali, and having sponsored their meeting in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, at the end of last year.
On that occasion, Maduro and Ali signed an agreement committing not to use military force against each other and not to intensify the discourse on the dispute over Essequibo.
Despite the silence on the part of the government, Lula’s special advisor for international affairs, Celso Amorim, said that he sees Maduro’s action more as a “symbolic gesture” in the face of “internal politics”. However, he ruled out that it would evolve into something more serious.
“The gesture is symbolic, it obviously has its weight, but I will venture an opinion that this has to do with internal politics. It’s symbolic, it may have some effect, but I don’t think there will be any serious consequences,” he said in an interview with the newspaper The globe.
Amorim also reaffirmed Brazil’s commitment to peace in the region and expressed confidence in the agreement between Guyana and Venezuela. He highlighted that Brazil “is a witness to this agreement” and highlighted the importance of strengthening dialogue between the countries involved.
The creation of the state of “Guiana Essequiba” is the result of a unilateral referendum held in December by Maduro. The Essequibo region is an area rich in oil and natural resources and has been the subject of dispute between Venezuela and Guyana for more than a century.