Colombian president suspends planned meeting with Ecuadorian leader

By Sinan Dogan

BOGOTA (AA) - Colombian President Gustavo Petro suspended a planned meeting with Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa, in response to an Ecuadorian police raid on Mexico's Embassy in the capital Quito earlier this month.

"The bilateral Cabinet meeting planned during the previous term of President Guillermo Lasso has been suspended. I believe the events at the Mexican Embassy are very serious. If we want world peace, it is imperative to rebuild international law," Petro said.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador called for Ecuador to be expelled from the UN due to the raid on its embassy in Ecuador’s capital.

Speaking at the extraordinary meeting of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) via video conference, Lopez Obrador said: "We appreciate the solidarity shown by the governments of Latin America and the Caribbean.”

“If you deem it appropriate and feasible, we invite you to join us by signing the complaint to the International Court of Justice," he added.

During the meeting, the presidents of Colombia, Brazil, and Cuba again condemned Ecuador’s raid on the Mexican Embassy.

Participating in the meeting via video conference, Petro said: "Ecuador and Israel hold hands in the competition of barbarism. I invite you to deepen the human rights system."

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, for his part, said that the attack on the Mexican Embassy was "unacceptable," noting that such events occur during dictatorships.

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel also stressed that the raid on the embassy was an “unacceptable mistake” and expressed his support for Mexico.

The statements came in response to the April 6 raid by Ecuadorian police at the Mexican diplomatic headquarters in Quito to arrest former Ecuadorian Vice President Jorge Glas, who requested asylum at the embassy.

The 54-year-old politician had been taking refuge in the embassy since seeking political asylum in December.

Glas had been convicted of corruption by Ecuador but was released from prison at the end of 2023 after a judge accepted a habeas corpus appeal from his defense lawyers.

The decision by Noboa to order the raid has prompted condemnation from across the political spectrum in Latin America.

*Writing by Zehra Nur Duz in Ankara