LA PAZ, April 17 (NNN-XINHUA) — Bolivian President Luis Arce on Tuesday pledged support for Mexico’s lawsuit against Ecuador at the Hague-based International Court of Justice (ICJ), over its raid of the Mexican embassy in Quito.
“We will accompany you in international and judicial instances in this lawsuit that we consider absolutely fair to set a definitive precedent and ensure that this does not happen again,” Arce said during a virtual summit of the heads of state of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States.
Mexico filed an official complaint at the ICJ, in which it requested Ecuador be suspended from the United Nations until it apologizes for raiding the embassy and guarantees it will not again violate international law and sovereignty.
On April 5, Ecuadorian police raided the Mexican embassy in Quito to arrest Jorge Glas, former Ecuadorian vice president, who had been holed up there since December. Mexico subsequently suspended diplomatic relations with Ecuador.
Meanwhile in CARACAS, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro ordered the closing of the country’s embassy and consulates in Ecuador, in response to the raid on the Mexican embassy in Quito by Ecuadorian police on April 5.
“I have ordered the closing of our embassy in Ecuador, the closing of the consulate in Quito, the immediate closing of the consulate in Guayaquil and for diplomatic personnel to return to Venezuela immediately,” said Maduro during a remote address to an Extraordinary Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States.
The Venezuelan president said the trigger for the decision was the recent statements made by Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa, who said he was not sorry for the raid on the Mexican embassy to arrest former Ecuadorian vice president Jorge Glas, to whom Mexico had granted political asylum.
Maduro stressed that Venezuelan diplomatic personnel will not return to Ecuador “until international law is expressly restored” in that nation.
“Venezuela fully supports Mexico’s proposal to expel Ecuador from the United Nations, until it apologizes to the international community and restores the situation to its original legal status,” he added. — NNN-XINHUA
