Ecuador’s ex-VP back in prison after hospitalization

The caravan of vehicles transporting Ecuador’s ex-vice president Jorge Glas from the Naval Hospital to the maximum security prison La Roca is seen in Guayaquil, Ecuador, on April 9, 2024. Former Ecuadorian vice president Jorge Glas, who was hospitalized, was returned Tuesday to a maximum security prison, where he had been transferred on Saturday after his capture during a police raid on the Mexican embassy, according to the prison service (SNAI). (Photo by Gerardo MENOSCAL / AFP)

Ecuador’s ex-vice president Jorge Glas, whose capture in a dramatic raid on Mexico’s embassy in Quito sparked a global outcry, was back in prison Tuesday after a short hospital stay, officials said.

Glas, 54, was admitted to the hospital on Monday after he refused to eat for 24 hours while detained at the Guayaquil maximum security prison, officials said, where he was taken after being captured last Friday.

The former vice president was taken back to his cell Tuesday, the SNAI prisons authority reported, after his health recovered to “acceptable parameters.”

Ecuador security forces stormed the embassy on Friday night, a rare incursion on what is considered inviolable diplomatic territory, to arrest Glas, who had been granted asylum by Mexico.

Glas — who had already served time on corruption charges — was the subject of a fresh arrest warrant for allegedly diverting funds intended for reconstruction efforts after a devastating earthquake in 2016.

The intrusion triggered a political storm, with Mexico, several other Latin American states, Spain, the European Union and the UN chief condemning it as a violation of the 1961 Vienna Convention governing international relations.

Mexico, which cut diplomatic relations and pulled its embassy personnel from Ecuador, said it would file a complaint at the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

– ‘Basic diplomatic norms’ –

On Tuesday, the White House issued a condemnation of the raid.

“The Ecuadoran government disregarded its obligations under international law as a host state to respect the inviolability of diplomatic missions, and jeopardize the foundation of basic diplomatic norms in relationships,” said National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.

His comments were more critical than earlier ones from the State Department.

Lopez Obrador noted Tuesday that President Joe Biden had not personally spoken out against the Ecuadoran operation, describing the US and Canadian reactions to the raid as “very ambiguous.”

“We are economic and commercial partners. We are neighbors and their position was very vague,” he said at his regular morning news conference.

Glas was vice president under former leftist president Rafael Correa, who has been living in exile in Belgium since 2017 and was sentenced in absentia to eight years in prison for corruption.

Correa said Tuesday that Ecuador had done “irreparable damage” to its global standing.

“There is a kidnapped person whose life is in danger, whose human rights, all due process have been violated, whose asylum has been disrespected,” Correa said of Glas.

“I ask the world to make whatever political and judicial pressures are necessary, because this is not going to stop.”

A Brussels-based lawyer for Glas told AFP on Monday that she feared for his life and pleaded for international help.

“I believe that Jorge Glas is at grave risk, at imminent risk, in the hands of the (Ecuadoran) government. It was a kidnapping, and I believe at any moment they could kill him,” Sonia Vera said.

Former presidential candidate Luisa Gonzalez said Tuesday neither Glas’ family nor lawyers had been able to see him while he was in the hospital.