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Nicaragua Cuts Diplomatic Ties with Ecuador Amid Fallout from Mexican Embassy Invasion

© AP Photo / Andres NunesA man walks past a mural of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega during general elections in Managua, Nicaragua, Sunday, Nov. 7, 2021.
A man walks past a mural of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega during general elections in Managua, Nicaragua, Sunday, Nov. 7, 2021. - Sputnik International, 1920, 07.04.2024
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Ecuador's highly provocative move has elicited condemnation across Latin America, with an Organization of American States (OAS) meeting scheduled to discuss the issue.
MEXICO CITY (Sputnik) - Nicaragua announced it had completely severed diplomatic relations with Ecuador Saturday over the storming of the Mexican embassy in Quito by Ecuadorian police.
Armed security forces stormed the Mexican embassy Friday to arrest former Ecuadorian Vice President Jorge Glas, who had taken refuge in the diplomatic mission. Mexico immediately suspended diplomatic relations with Quito, claiming Mexican diplomats had sustained injuries as a result of the incident.
"Following the unthinkable and reprehensible acts committed... in Quito by forces that are supposed to protect the order and security of Ecuadorian citizens and their lives, our strong and irrevocable condemnation is transformed into a sovereign decision to sever all diplomatic relations with the Government of Ecuador," the Nicaraguan government said in a statement published on El 19 Digital news portal.
Managua had previously withdrawn its embassy from Quito in 2020 over hostile statements by Ecuadorian authorities.
Military police guard the presidential palace in Quito, Ecuador, Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. President Guillermo Lasso declared a state of emergency, that involves additional military personnel deployed throughout the country, after the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio at a campaign rally in Quito. - Sputnik International, 1920, 06.04.2024
Americas
Ecuador Detained Former Vice President Jorge Glas at Mexican Embassy in Quito
The highly provocative invasion of the embassy, considered sovereign Mexican territory under international law, provoked condemnation across Latin America. Chile, Cuba, Bolivia, and Venezuela issued statements expressing anger over the incident. Honduras proposed an emergency meeting of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), a regional body promoted as an alternative to the controversial OAS.
Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva declared his "solidarity" with Mexico, criticizing the violation of the embassy in "the strongest possible terms."

Glas had been sheltering in the Mexican embassy since shortly after Ecuador issued a warrant for his arrest in December. Ecuador's government has been engaged in a persecution campaign against supporters of former President Rafael Correa for several years. The country has been on a downward economic spiral since the populist leader left office, with the security situation in the country also deteriorating.

Observers had hoped current leader Daniel Noboa would pursue a change in policy after narrowly winning the country's presidential election last year, but the arrest of Glas suggests Noboa is likewise committed to undermining Correa's "Citizens' Revolution" movement.
Ecuadorean former President (2007-2017) Rafael Correa speaks during an interview. File photo. - Sputnik International, 1920, 18.01.2024
Americas
Dollar Dependence Fueling Ecuador’s Explosion of Gang Violence - Rafael Correa to Sputnik
Ecuadoreans believed the populist movement was in safe hands when former Correa ally Lenin Moreno was elected president in 2017. But Moreno radically altered government policy and legally persecuted Correa’s supporters.
Moreno’s dramatic 180 caused many, including the country’s former foreign minister, to conclude Moreno had become an asset of the US Central Intelligence Agency.

“Moreno became a CIA insider due to blackmailing,” said ex-Foreign Minister Ricardo Patiño to Sputnik in 2019. “We are absolutely sure that while Moreno was in Geneva [working as a UN envoy] he established a very close relationship with the CIA and the US administration because they may have found his secret bank accounts in Panama, opened by his brother to save money from corruption.”

The discovery of Moreno’s hidden assets with the release of the Panama Papers solidified the impression the former president was being extorted.
Economic instability has created an environment for organized crime to thrive in Ecuador, as in other Latin American countries where US-backed neoliberal policy has resulted in similar consequences.
Soldiers guard the surroundings of the Simon Bolivar Air Base in Guayaquil, Ecuador, on January 19, 2024, following the arrival of relatives of Ecuadorean drug lord Adolfo Macias, alias Fito. - Sputnik International, 1920, 20.01.2024
Analysis
Gang Violence, Bad Economics & CIA Asset as President? What’s Behind Ecuador’s Crisis
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