Ibero-American politicians and artists demand the release of Jorge Glas

247 – Political and cultural personalities, led by several former presidents of Latin America, Nobel Prize winners, among others, demanded this Saturday (4) the immediate release of former Ecuadorian vice-president Jorge Glas, kidnapped a month ago at the Mexican Embassy in Quito.

The statement recalls that Glas was removed from that diplomatic headquarters on April 5, because he had been “judicially and politically persecuted for 7 years (time spent mostly in prison), and that he was a political asylum in that diplomatic headquarters”.

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Likewise, they emphasize that “there is no precedent in our region for an attack of this nature on an embassy to kidnap an asylum seeker. Not even military dictatorships dared to carry out an attack of this type which, in this case, was instructed by the highest authority of the State”, in reference to Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa.

The attack on the embassy provoked a strong response from Mexico, which sued the State.

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The document recalls that, on the other hand, “at the most recent CELAC Summit of Heads of State and Government and the ALBA-TCP Summit, several regional leaders expressed themselves with great strength and clarity, defending the freedom of Jorge Glas” .

In this sense, politicians and cultural figures express their “greatest concern for the health and physical integrity of Jorge Glas and his loved ones”. At the same time, they remember that “his safety is the sole responsibility of the government of Daniel Noboa, the author of his kidnapping”.

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Likewise, they regret “that the Inter-American System, despite the seriousness of these events and the fact that Jorge Glas received precautionary measures from the IACHR in December 2019, remains silent and does not demand respect for the sacred right to asylum”.

In view of this, they demand “an immediate return to the situation prior to the attack on the Mexican embassy, ​​returning the status of political asylum to Jorge Glas” and “that the protection that, within the scope of international law, corresponds to prevail”. Jorge Glas, and that he be granted the corresponding safe passage so that he can travel safely to Mexican territory.”

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The letter is headed by former presidents Alberto Fernández (Argentina), Ernesto Samper (Colombia), Evo Morales (Bolivia), Rafael Correa Delgado (Ecuador) and José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (Spain); as well as ALBA-TCP executive secretary Jorge Arreaza, Argentine Nobel Peace Prize winner Adolfo Pérez Esquivel and Cuban singer-songwriter Silvio Rodríguez.