Mexico said on Monday it had requested that Ecuador’s detained former vice president Jorge Glas be allowed to travel to a third country owing to his “critical” health condition.

Glas, 54, had sought refuge in the Mexican embassy in Quito when Ecuadorian security agents invaded the facility on April 5 and arrested him on corruption charges, resulting in a break in diplomatic relations between the two countries.

He was eventually arrested in a high-security jail in Guayaquil, a port city in western Ecuador.

In a statement, Mexico’s foreign ministry requested that Ecuador enable Glas’ safe passage so that he “may be delivered and transferred to a third country” in accordance with the Caracas Convention on diplomatic asylum.

It requested that Ecuador “take the necessary humanitarian measures” so that Glas “is released and guarded in a safe place, given his reported critical health condition.”

Glad was briefly hospitalized on April 8 after refusing food, according to jail officials and his advocates.

Quito has not yet responded to the Mexican government’s request.

Following Ecuador’s raid on its embassy, Mexico withdrew its diplomats and severed ties with Quito.

AFP