Ecuador's Former Vice President, Arrested in Mexican Embassy Raid, Tied to Beheaded 'Los Lobos' Gang CJNG Trafficker
Glas was twice convicted of corruption and now facing new charges. Ecuador’s authorities instead ordered a raid on the sovereign Mexican embassy grounds by a special unit of the Ecuadorian police to detain and arrest the former politician on charges of corruption and bribery related to government contracts given to large transnational Brazilian-based construction company Odebrecht.
He has not, as of yet, been charged with any conspiracies related to Ecuador’s drug trafficking and gang activity. One of Ecuador’s late primary gang leaders and logistics financier for CJNG drug trafficking is said to have paid $250,000 for Jorge Glas and Daniel Salcedo to be released from prison in 2022.
Corruption Charges
His arrest came after months of tension between the two countries, and large-scale drug violence in Ecuador that further escalated after the assassination of a Presidential candidate last year.
Correa has lived in Belgium since he left office, and was convicted in the same case. Glas served more than 4 years in prison before being released in 2022, only to be jailed again the same year, after a court ruled he needed to serve the remainder of his sentences, though his lawyers had requested he serve them concurrently and benefit from parole. He was last released in November 2022.
Seeking Asylum
“What they were looking for is for us to accept that they enter the Embassy or for us to hand over the vice president to them. We cannot do that, that is a question of principles. Mexico’s foreign policy is characterized by protecting politically persecuted people,” Lopez Obrador had stated when granting Glas asylum.
Drug Trafficker Bribes for Glas’ Release
According to the authorities report released last December, in exchange for the promise of “future favors,” Norero paid $250,000 in bribes to judicial officials, which ultimately resulted in the release of the former Vice President. Norero wanted to collect this ‘little favor’ when Glas is president.
“Because part of the strategy of organized crime is to have political control, control of the authorities. How do they control the authorities? Delivering favors and then collecting them,” Prosecutor Diana Salazar commented. “That is the level of putrefaction that we have been able to reveal in this plot of the Metastasis case,” said Salazar.
After Norero’s arrest, a photograph from 2009 circulated in which he (center) was apparently seen alongside then-President Correa and former Minister Ricardo Patiño. |
Glas’ 2022 prison release was allegedly orchestrated by CJNG drug logistics financier and Los Lobos gang leader known as “El Patron.” |
Who was Ecuador’s “El Patron”?
Although it was initially reported that he was originally from Peru, authorities later revealed that Leandro Antonio Norero Tigua was born in 1986 in Guayaquil, Ecuador. Reports indicated that he financed and headed the local criminal gangs collective that included Los Lobos, Los Tiguerones, Chone Killers, and the Latin Kings. He had direct links with CJNG traffickers.
At the age of 18, in 2005 he was arrested for illegal possession of a weapon. Over the following years, Norero reportedly received the support of corrupt politicians, which allowed him to organize drug trafficking networks from the ports of Guayaquil and Machala. In 2012 he was prosecuted for aggravated robbery and in 2018 for drug trafficking.
Unsurprisingly, those years fall on either end of Correa’s Presidency from 2013-2017. He was previously part of the Los Ñetas band, which participated in a “pacification process” during the government of Rafael Correa (2007-2017). Norero was considered by counternarcotics and intelligence authorities to be one of Ecuador’s top drug traffickers.
Following the dissemination of the photograph, taken in 2009, the former president maintains that his detractors “try to build a narrative of links to drug trafficking” and “to do so they count, as always, on the corrupt press.”
Leandro Antonio Norero Tigua was accused of ordering the murder of Albanian trafficker Ergys Dashi who was shot dead on January 23, 2022, at a restaurant in Ecuador.
He would also be responsible for at least 3 more homicides. Lawyer Harrison Salcedo was the defender of the Los Choneros gang leader. He also ordered the killing of journalist Gerardo Delgado, an execution he mistakenly requested, conversations reveal. The third case is Agustín Intriago, the Mayor of the coastal city of Manta. This slaying had links to his money laundering network.
He also had ordered surveillance of then-presidential candidate, Fernando Villavicencio, and outlined a plan to assassinate the Prosecutor who investigated the money laundering case. Villavicencio was assassinated in 2023.
Beheaded in Prison
Mass Arrests of Politicians & Police
After the prison riot, prosecutors obtained 15 mobile phones owned by Norero. Around 15,000 pages of transcripts of conversations showed the links of Norero and his lawyers with judicial and government officials investigated for corruption, politicians, and even a journalist.
Armed Raid on Mexican Embassy
Glas’ defense team had argued the three-judge tribunal should declare his capture at the Mexican Embassy illegal and set him free. They stated that Ecuador’s government violated his human rights and international law when security forces entered and raided diplomatic property.
The tribunal agreed the arrest “was illegal and arbitrary,” Judge Monica Heredia said, but that due to the existence of previous convictions “this tribunal cannot modify the (jail) sentence.”
Glas’ lawyer Sonia Vera thanked the international community in a message on X, saying the support was vital for getting the arrest declared illegal. “However, Jorge is still detained,” she said. “We’ll appeal until he is free.”
Mexico has called on the UN to suspend Ecuador if they do not apologize for raiding their embassy. The Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres, said this Thursday that the expulsion of Ecuador from the UN depends on the member states. The UN has expressed its “condemnation for the flagrant violations of international law…when the embassy was attacked.”
Ecuador currently has a seat on the Security Council since 2022, within the quota of Latin American and Caribbean countries.
Ecuador currently has a seat on the Security Council since 2022, within the quota of Latin American and Caribbean countries.
AMLO’s “Unfortunate” Comments & ReactionBefore the arrest of Jorge Glas, Ecuador had declared the Mexican Ambassador persona non grata, citing “unfortunate” comments by the Mexican president about the recent election violence.
The Mexican President had compared election-related violence in the two countries, alleging the murder of Ecuadorean Presidential Candidate Fernando Villavicencio last year was unfairly tied to the leftist candidate in the race, who subsequently lost. Lopez Obrador further blamed what he said was corrupt media for what he described as election manipulation.
Lopez Obrador ordered the “immediate” suspension of diplomatic ties with Ecuador. Embassy staff would return to Mexico as AMLO called the arrest an “authoritarian” act and a violation of international law and Mexican sovereignty.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro said it will seek human rights protections for Glas from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, saying his right to asylum was “barbarously violated.”
Source: https://www.borderlandbeat.com/2024/04/ecuadors-former-vice-president-arrested.html
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