Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Tuesday he ordered the closure of his country’s embassy and consulates in Ecuador. The move follows a raid ordered by Ecuador’s president earlier this month on the Mexican embassy in Quito.
Ecuadorian authorities raided the embassy on President Daniel Noboa’s orders to arrest Jorge Glas, the nation’s former vice president, accused of corruption and seeking asylum in Mexico.
Maduro announced his decision during a virtual meeting of CELAC, or the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, saying that he ordered “diplomatic personnel to return to Venezuela immediately … until international law is restored in Ecuador.”
Noboa claims the raid was authorized to “protect national security,” and says that because Glas was convicted for criminal reasons, not political ones, there were no grounds to grant asylum for him. Glas denies the allegations of corruption.
Following the raid, Mexico expressed outrage and filed a complaint with the International Court of Justice. It requested that the United Nations suspend Ecuador until the country agrees to provide reparations and apologizes for the raid.