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By KELIN DILLON

On Thursday, April 11, the government of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) sent a formal complaint to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) asking for Ecuador’s removal from the United Nations (UN).

In the complaint, Mexico requested “the suspension of Ecuador as a member of the United Nations Organization until a public apology is issued, recognizing the violations of the fundamental principles and norms of international law.”

According to Mexican Secretary of Foreign Affairs Alicia Bárcena, the request was made to hold the government of Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa accountable for the forced removal of Ecuador’s former Vice President Jorge Glas, who had sought asylum in the Mexican embassy, from the consulate on Friday, April 5. 

“Today, under the protection of the national legal system and using the law, we have decided to hold Ecuador accountable for its flagrant transgression of the inviolability of our embassy, as well as for the physical attacks perpetrated against our diplomats,” said Bárcena.

Bárcena also said that Mexico had every right to provide Glas with political asylum under the Caracas Convention, despite Ecuador’s claims to the contrary. 

Alongside its request for Ecuador’s removal from the UN, Mexico also asked to establish the precedent that any country that acts like Ecuador must be removed from the UN and that Ecuador be judged responsible for the damage in front of the UN General Council. 

However, Mexico’s request is unlikely to be fulfilled as only one country has ever been forcibly removed from the UN in its history. Likewise, Ecuador currently holds a spot on the UN Security Council.

For the part of United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres via spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric, the UN chief expressed that he hoped “the tensions between Ecuador and Mexico will be addressed through dialogue.”