QUITO.- The Ecuadorian authorities requested authorization from the Mexican Embassy in Quito so that the security forces can enter the diplomatic headquarters to comply with the arrest order against the former vice president Jorge Glas ordered by the National Court of Justice.
The day before, the Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry sent a letter to the Mexican Embassy, reported this Friday by the local press, in which they point out that this request is made at the request of the Ministry of the Interior.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility requests the consent of the head of the Mexican diplomatic mission so that the forces of order, which depend on the Ministry of the Interior, enter the premises of the mission and carry out the capture of Mr. Jorge David Glas “, according to the letter.
The letter also refers to the conversations held last December between Ecuadorian diplomacy and the Mexico’s embassywhere the authorities of Ecuador They released “the information provided by the National Court of Justice and the State Attorney General’s Office.”
Glas, who has a prison order, took refuge in that legation last December 17 in the midst of an investigation against him for alleged embezzlement, an imprescriptible crime that is punishable by up to 13 years in prison.
The former vice president (2013-2017) requested asylum in Mexico, but Quito anticipated that it will deny him safe passage to leave the country if refuge is granted, considering that it is a criminal investigation.
For its part, Glas’s defense maintains that asylum will allow him to protect “his physical integrity” in the face of insecurity in Ecuadorian prisons, where 460 people have died since 2021.
Diversion of funds
According to the prosecutor’s office, Glas and two other officials of the government of former President Rafael Correa (2007-2017) They diverted funds intended for the reconstruction of the province of Manabí, after the devastating 7.8 earthquake in April 2016, towards other projects.
Glas led a committee for the reconstruction of areas affected by the natural phenomenon, for which the government collected some 1,614 million dollars from mandatory contributions from the salaries of all employees and the temporary increase in the Value Added Tax.
The investigation “determined that there would be an abuse of public money for the benefit of third parties,” according to the prosecutor’s office, which maintains that to date there has been no evidence of a reconstruction process of the towns affected by the earthquake.
In another different process, Glas was sentenced in December 2017 to six years in prison. for the corruption plot of the Brazilian firm Odebrecht. In 2022 he was paroled.
In recent years, Mexico granted asylum or refuge to other former Correa government officials such as former Foreign Minister Ricardo Patiño and deputies Soledad Buendía, Carlos Viteri and Gabriela Rivadeneira.
Source: With information from Europa Press
