Former Ecuadorian vice president calls for help from Mexico, Colombia and Brazil for release from prison

By Laura Gamba

BOGOTA, Colombia (AA) - In handwritten letters, the former Ecuadorian Vice President Jorge Glas has asked the presidents of Mexico, Colombia and Brazil to mediate to obtain his release from prison.

Glas is on a hunger strike and locked up in a maximum security prison since he was captured on April 5, when Ecuadorian president, Daniel Noboa, ordered the police to raid the Mexican Embassy in Quito and forcibly take away Glas, who had been granted asylum from the Mexican government hours before.

"I am in the worst prison in Ecuador and on hunger strike. Help me," Glas wrote to the presidents who have most shown their solidarity, Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva, Gustavo Petro, of Brazil and Colombia, as well as Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

​​Glas is imprisoned in La Roca maximum security prison in Guayaquil, where the leaders of the most dangerous gangs are locked up. The decision by Noboa to order the raid on Mexico's Embassy has prompted wide condemnation from across the political spectrum in Latin America.

Ecuador claims Mexico breached international law by granting diplomatic immunity to Glas, who has two corruption convictions in his country, which led him to take refuge in the Mexican mission since Dec. 17.

After receiving the letter, the Mexican president promised protection to Glas.

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE) is going to establish communication with the Foreign Ministry in Brazil, in Bolivia, with other countries to take care of Glas' health and resolve his protection, his right to asylum," Lopez Obrador said on Thursday.

Mexico has filed a complaint before the International Court of Justice calling for Ecuador to be expelled from the UN, pending an apology for the embassy incident. Many countries have announced they joined the request. Mexico and Venezuela also severed diplomatic relations with Ecuador, recalling its embassy staff from the country.