QUITO – Ecuadorian authorities took the extraordinarily unusual step of breaking into a foreign embassy to arrest a former vice president facing corruption charges. The move earned the administration of President Daniel Noboa swift condemnation from fellow leaders as well as diplomats.
Police on Friday night entered the Mexican Embassy in Ecuador’s capital, Quito, to arrest Jorge Glas, who had been residing at the diplomatic facility since December. Noboa’s office has defended the decision, while other presidents have said it violated international norms.
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Here’s a biography of the politician at the center of the diplomatic dispute:
WHO IS JORGE GLAS?
Glas, a career politician, is an electrical engineer by training. He led Ecuador’s ministries of telecommunications and strategic sectors coordination before becoming leftist former President Rafael Correa ’s running mate last decade. He served as Correa’s vice president between 2013 and 2017 and for a few months under then-President Lenin Moreno.
Glas' duties as vice president included managing reconstruction efforts following a powerful earthquake in 2016 that killed hundreds of people.
WHY DID HE SEEK POLITICAL ASYLUM AT MEXICO’S EMBASSY IN ECUADOR?
Glas, 54, moved in to the embassy in Dec. 17, seeking asylum because he said he was being politically persecuted. His decision came around the same time authorities ordered him to appear before prosecutors to answer questions in a corruption investigation against him.
Prosecutors are looking into alleged mismanagement of funds meant for the earthquake reconstruction efforts.
The Mexican government granted him political asylum on Friday, just a few hours before police raided the embassy.
WHY WAS GLAS PREVIOUSLY IN CUSTODY?
Glas was previously convicted on bribery and corruption charges in two separate cases, one of which was tied to the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht and earned him a six-year prison sentence.
He was later sentenced to eight years for his role in a scheme that collected bribes for public procurement.
In 2022, Judge Emerson Curipallo in a controversial ruling ordered that Glas be freed from prison. Curipallo is now in custody while authorities investigate his alleged role in what prosecutors say was a bribery scheme for favorable rulings for a drug lord and his relatives.
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Garcia Cano reported from Mexico City.