Venezuela to close embassy, consulates in Ecuador

CARACAS -- Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Tuesday ordered the closing of the country's embassy and consulates in Ecuador, in response to the raid on the Mexican embassy in Quito by Ecuadorian police on April 5.

"I have ordered the closing of our embassy in Ecuador, the closing of the consulate in Quito, the immediate closing of the consulate in Guayaquil and for diplomatic personnel to return to Venezuela immediately," said Maduro during a remote address to an Extraordinary Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States.

The Venezuelan president said the trigger for the decision was the recent statements made by Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa, who said he was not sorry for the raid on the Mexican embassy to arrest former Ecuadorian vice president Jorge Glas, to whom Mexico had granted political asylum.

Maduro stressed that Venezuelan diplomatic personnel will not return to Ecuador "until international law is expressly restored" in that nation.

"Venezuela fully supports Mexico's proposal to expel Ecuador from the United Nations, until it apologizes to the international community and restores the situation to its original legal status," he added.