International
Ecuador seeks Mexican Embassy entry in Quito to arrest glas, amidst asylum request
The Ecuadorian government has requested permission from Mexico to enter its embassy in Quito and arrest Jorge Glas, who served as vice president during Rafael Correa’s presidential term (2007-2017) and has been residing in the diplomatic mission since December awaiting a response to his asylum request.
Ecuador’s government has asked Mexico to allow the apprehension of Glas within its embassy in Quito because granting him asylum would “render void all commitments acquired in international instruments such as the United Nations Convention against Corruption,” as confirmed by sources from the Foreign Ministry to EFE.
In the document, Ecuador’s Foreign Ministry asks Mexican Ambassador Raquel Serur for consent “for law enforcement (police), under the authority of the Ministry of the Interior, to enter the premises of the diplomatic mission and carry out the arrest of Mr. Jorge David Glas Espinen, as ordered by the National Court of Justice of Ecuador.”
Before making this request, Ecuador’s Foreign Minister Gabriela Sommerfeld had previously stated that if Mexico granted asylum, President Daniel Noboa’s government would not provide Glas with safe passage to leave the country without detention.
Glas, who was released at the end of 2022 after serving five years in prison for two convictions of bribery and illicit association, faces charges of embezzlement in the “Reconstruction” case in the coastal province of Manabí following the 2016 earthquake.
Arrival at the Mexican Embassy
In mid-December 2023, Glas, who considers himself innocent and a victim of ‘lawfare,’ arrived at the Mexican Embassy in Quito, before a detention order was issued against him.
In early January, a judge ordered his provisional detention for the Manabí reconstruction case.
The investigation by the Prosecutor’s Office revealed alleged misuse of public funds benefiting third parties, individuals, and legal entities who were contractors and supervisors of the contracts signed.
Glas spent five years and four months in prison after being sentenced to eight years for bribery in the “Bribery” case and six years for illicit association related to the Odebrecht bribery scandal.
Glas’s Background
The former vice president, who served during part of Correa’s term and the early months of Lenín Moreno’s presidency (2017-2021), has stated that he will seek to overturn his case after Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court annulled evidence from Odebrecht’s computer system.
Glas’s asylum request echoes the case of former Correa-era minister María de los Ángeles Duarte, also convicted in the “Bribery” case, who resided with her underage son in the residence of the Argentine ambassador for nearly two and a half years while awaiting a resolution to her asylum request from the Argentine government.
At the end of 2022, Argentina’s government under President Alberto Fernández granted her asylum, but Ecuador’s conservative government under President Guillermo Lasso denied her safe passage, leading the former minister to leave Ecuador unnoticed until reaching Venezuela.
This sparked a diplomatic standoff between Argentina and Ecuador, resulting in reciprocal expulsions of ambassadors and a delay of up to four months in appointing new mission heads.
International
Ecuador declares state of emergency in five provinces to combat organized crime
The Ecuadorian government has declared a state of exception in the provinces of El Oro, Guayas, Los Ríos, Manabí, and Santa Elena for 60 days to combat organized armed groups amid escalating hostilities, according to Executive Decree 250 published on Tuesday.
The Armed Forces and National Police are jointly working to “maintain sovereignty and the integrity of the state.”
With this measure, the right to inviolability of the home has been suspended, meaning security authorities are permitted to conduct inspections, raids, and searches on properties where they believe members associated with armed groups may be hiding.
Authorities will also seize “materials or instruments” that could be used to commit crimes to neutralize threats.
In response to the criminal activity in the territory, the government will also establish an Anti-Criminal Investigation Force in the coming days aimed at reducing intentional homicides.
The national director of Crimes Against Life, Violent Deaths, Disappearances, Extortion, and Kidnapping of the National Police (Dinased), Freddy Sarzosa, noted that the main cause of criminal violence is linked to drug and arms trafficking.
International
Argentine president criticizes spanish PM amidst political row
Argentine President Javier Milei sharply criticized Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, suggesting he “has more significant issues to address,” in response to comments made by Spain’s Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, on Friday.
“The government of Pedro Sánchez has more significant issues to deal with, such as the corruption allegations against his wife, a matter that even led him to consider resignation,” stated Argentine President Javier Milei.
In this regard, the Argentine leader expressed his expectation that the judiciary would act “swiftly” in this corruption case, which he mentioned “affects the stability” of Spain and relations between the two nations.
Moreover, Milei accused Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez of “endangering” the unity of Spain by “negotiating with separatists,” harming women by “allowing illegal immigration of those who threaten their physical integrity,” and damaging the middle class through “socialist policies that only bring poverty and death.”
The Argentine presidency issued these statements in response to remarks from Spain’s Minister of Transport and Mobility, Óscar Puente, who accused Milei of “substance ingestion,” which the Argentine presidency labeled as “slander and libel.”
“I saw Milei on TV and, hearing him, I couldn’t tell in what state he was in, before or after the ingestion of whatever substances, and he came out to say that and I thought, it’s impossible that he wins the elections, he’s dug his own grave, but no,” Puente declared at a colloquium on communication and social media held this Friday in Salamanca.
International
The death toll of the devastating floods in Kenya amounts to 210
The death toll from the devastating floods caused by the torrential rains that hit Kenya since mid-March amounted to 210, while about 165,500 people have been displaced, the Kenyan Ministry of the Interior reported on Friday.
The total death toll increased after 22 more deaths were confirmed in the last 24 hours, the Ministry said in a statement collected by local media.
Likewise, the injured and missing remain at 125 and 90, respectively, and a total of 196,000 have been affected by the floods throughout the country, immersed in the long rainy season, which has especially hit the center, south and west of its territory.
To respond to this crisis, the Ministry said, the Kenyan authorities have created at least 115 camps distributed in 19 of the 47 counties of Kenya, where more than 27,500 people have taken refuge.
The Government published these data after the Kenyan Minister of the Interior, Kithure Kindiki, urged on Thursday to move all Kenyans who reside in areas vulnerable to landslides or near dams and rivers.
In a message published on social network X late on Thursday, Kindiki pointed out that all neighbors in those areas are “ordered” to “leave these areas immediately” in the next 24 hours, before a “mandatory evacuation” is launched.
“The Government has adopted adequate measures to provide temporary accommodation, as well as essential food and non-food supplies to all those who will be affected by the eviction,” the minister said.
The truth is, however, that, according to the Human Rights Watch (HRW) organization, the Government of Kenya did not act in time or respond adequately to the serious floods, despite the weather predictions it had.
In a statement released on Thursday, the NGO warned that the destruction caused by the rains “has exacerbated socioeconomic vulnerabilities” by more severely hitting the poor population, rural residents, the elderly and people with disabilities.
In the same vein, a report by the National Drought Management Authority (NDMA) published on Tuesday pointed out that the storms have aggravated the lack of food in Kenya to the point that about two million Kenyans need food aid.
Severe storms will last at least until next week, and the rains will continue to be intense during this month, according to the prediction of the Department of Meteorology of Kenya.
In recent years, the long rainy season, which runs from March to May and also affects other countries in East Africa, has been intensified by the El Niño weather phenomenon, a change in atmospheric dynamics caused by the increase in the temperature of the Pacific Ocean.
The west, center and south of the country – including the capital, Nairobi – have so far taken the worst part, and the overflow of a river on Monday especially hit Nakuru County, where at least 71 people died as a result of the tragedy.
Ecuador declares state of emergency in five provinces to combat organized crime
Argentine president criticizes spanish PM amidst political row
The death toll of the devastating floods in Kenya amounts to 210
Tec de Monterrey honors one of its students for his contribution to nanotechnology in medicine
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