QUITO, April 8 – Ecuador’s foreign ministry has withdrawn its ambassador from Colombia for diplomatic consultations following a public disagreement over a imprisoned former government official, marking another escalation in tensions between the two South American nations.
The diplomatic action came after Colombian President Gustavo Petro posted on social media Monday, describing former Ecuadorian Vice President Jorge Glas as a political prisoner and urging Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa to either free him or transfer him to Colombia, pointing to Glas’s Colombian citizenship.
President Noboa fired back on social media, stating that labeling Glas a political prisoner represents an assault on Ecuador’s sovereignty and breaks international non-interference rules.
“There’s a corrupt official in jail who must answer to Ecuador,” he said.
Glas held the vice presidency under Rafael Correa between 2013 and 2017 before being found guilty on multiple charges including criminal association in the Odebrecht scandal, accepting bribes related to campaign funding from 2012 to 2016, and misappropriating public resources following Ecuador’s 2016 earthquake disaster.
“We are taking steps to express, to reiterate, Ecuador’s strong protest to Colombia regarding the terms used by President Petro and the interference in decisions made by different branches of the Ecuadorean state,” Foreign Minister Gabriela Sommerfeld told a local radio.
The neighboring countries have experienced repeated clashes in recent months, with Ecuador’s conservative president Noboa maintaining close ties to Washington while Colombia operates under leftist leader Petro, who has previously criticized former President Trump. Their disagreements over border protection and anti-drug strategies have already sparked a trade dispute, with both nations imposing tariffs on each other’s goods.
