Written by: Aidan Jonah

A well-placed individual speaking on the condition of anonymity has informed The Canada Files that US secret services embedded in Ecuador – through spying on Mexico’s embassy - ensured President Daniel Noboa knew of Mexico’s plan to get former Vice President Jorge Glas to Mexico after granting him political asylum, enabling Noboa to order the illegal raid on Mexico’s embassy and kidnap Glas.

The kidnapping of Glas, who has faced political persecution through Ecuador’s judiciary since 2017, sparked international outrage as a blatant violation of the Vienna Convention and Mexico’s sovereignty. Mexico cut off diplomatic relations with Ecuador and has taken Ecuador to the International Court of Justice for this violation.

It took Canada six days to issue a statement condemning the Ecuadorian invasion of Mexico’s embassy, after the raid occurred on April 5, 2024. But Canada has declined to formally support Mexico’s case at the ICJ and has not taken any actions to punish Ecuador for what even Canada admits was a “clear violation of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations”. Canada’s grand solution?

“We urge Mexico and Ecuador to engage in dialogue to resolve their differences in the spirit of peaceful coexistence typical of our close regional partners.”

At the time, Canada confirmed it will “continue to monitor the situation closely”.

With new information on the table, a new actor comes into play, raising the question: Is this only to be a battle between Mexico and Ecuador at the international table, or one between Mexico and Ecuador with the United States? This question comes to the fore given the July 2023 Memorandum of Understanding signed between Ecuador and the US, which has seen the US ramp up its ‘assistance’ to Ecuador’s security sector and grow US-Ecuador ‘security cooperation’.

The source told The Canada Files that from December 17, 2023, when Glas entered Mexico’s embassy in Ecuador, the US secret services actively monitored the embassy. Mexico announced that Jorge Glas’ asylum request was accepted, on April 5, 2024.

Article 27 of the Vienna Convention notes that “The official correspondence of the mission shall be inviolable”, with this including “all correspondence relating to the mission and its functions”.

And on the same day, this illegal spying upon Mexico’s embassy - hacking telephones of diplomatic personnel and obtaining communications - allowed the US to become aware of a plan for Jorge Glas to flee Ecuador aboard an official Mexican diplomatic vehicle. This move was not without precedent, since Mexico gave former Bolivian President Evo Morales political asylum after the 2019 coup in Bolivia, and Mexico’s air force ensured that Morales made it to their nation safely.

The US made sure that such a blow to imperial machinations wouldn’t occur again, with their spying. And this spying allowed US secret services to pass on Mexico’s plan to get Glas out of Ecuador, to the private channel of President Daniel Noboa's office in Carondelet.

The source told The Canada Files that this news angered Noboa and triggered an order to the Ministers of the Interior and Foreign Affairs, and the Commander General of Ecuador's National Police, to enter the diplomatic premises to prevent Glas's escape.

The raid saw a Mexican diplomat - Deputy Chief of Mission, Roberto Martínez - injured, and Mexico’s sovereignty violated. It led Mexico to file a case at the ICJ in protest of Ecuador’s numerous violations of the Vienna Convention. Ecuador would respond by filing a case against Mexico at the ICJ for granting political asylum – a practice protected by Articles 4 and 9 of the convention - to Glas.

Since its early April statement, Canada has made no update to their ideal method for resolution: “dialogue to resolve their differences”. But since Ecuador chose to file a retaliatory case at the ICJ after Mexico challenged its violations of the Vienna Convention, such a notion is unrealistic unless Ecuador backs down.

Canada spoke boldly about its condemnation of Ecuador’s violations of the convention, but there has been no impactful action taken to back up their words, a staggering step since rendering the Vienna Convention meaningless would put Canadian diplomats and other nations’ diplomats around the world, in danger at all times. Meanwhile, Jorge Glas himself is in poor health in prison, according to Radio Havana Cuba. Diplomats in increased danger, and the man arrested in another nation’s embassy in poor health: these are the early consequences of Ecuador’s illegal invasion of Mexico’s embassy and violations of the Vienna Convention, enabled by the US.

So, will action or even stronger demands on Ecuador, come from Canada? Only time will tell.

Editor’s note: The Canada Files is the country's only news outlet focused on Canadian foreign policy. We've provided critical investigations & hard-hitting analysis on Canadian foreign policy since 2019, and need your support.

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Aidan Jonah is the Editor-in-Chief of The Canada Files, a socialist, anti-imperialist news outlet founded in 2019. Jonah wrote a report for the 48th session of the UN Human Rights Council, held in September 2021.

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