Mexico City, Apr. 4, (dpa/GNA) – Statements by the Mexican president on the assassination of a presidential candidate in Ecuador have triggered a diplomatic crisis between the two Latin American countries.
The government in Quito declared Mexican ambassador Raquel Serur Smeke persona non grata on Thursday evening, with the diplomat set to be quickly recalled to her home country.
Mexico’s left-wing head of state Andrés Manuel López Obrador had previously suggested that the murder of the politician Fernando Villavicencio in Ecuador last August had contributed to the election victory of the current President Daniel Noboa.
López Obrador’s statements were “very unfortunate,” according to a statement from the Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry.
Ecuador is fighting against international organized crime, which is challenging the state and its democratic institutions, it continued.
Widespread gang violence is just one of the problems facing the country on the Pacific coast of South America.
Villavicencio was shot 11 days before the first round of the presidential election in Ecuador. The run-off polls in October were won by banana fortune heir Noboa against left-wing politician Luisa González from the camp of ex-president Rafael Correa, who is ideologically close to López Obrador.
His remarks were prompted by politically motivated violence currently also rampant in Mexico. Ahead of presidential, parliamentary and regional elections on June 2, 15 candidates have already been killed in the country of around 130 million inhabitants.
According to the constitution, the Mexican president is not allowed to stand for re-election. López Obrador has repeatedly clashed with presidents from right-wing camps in Latin America, most recently with the ultra-libertarian Javier Milei from Argentina.