The Mexican Foreign Minister, Alicia Bárcena, explained that the lawsuit will be submitted today and added that with it Mexico wants to test the international justice system so that situations like what happened in the Ecuadorian capital do not repeat.

Although Ecuador had previously assured that trade relations with Mexico would remain normal and unchanged, this April 11 the Mexican Foreign Secretary, Alicia Bárcena, affirmed that they have suspended commercial relations with the Andean nation.

Earlier this week, the Minister of Production, Foreign Trade, Investment and Fisheries of Ecuador, Sonsoles García, had said that until April 8, “Ecuador has not received any official communication from the government of Mexico with any requests to end commercial relations with Ecuador.”

There are not new statements from Ecuador after the Mexican Foreign Secretary's decision on the matter today.

Bárcena made a point about how relations with Ecuador are suspended.

“We have suspended commercial relations with Ecuador. (This) in the sense that we were negotiating a free trade agreement and those talks have been suspended. What are the other governments going to do in relation to the economic and commercial issue? It is a decision of each government and also, I would say, of regional mechanisms such as Mercosur for example, and so on...”, mentioned the official, who was accompanied by the president of Mexico, Andrés López Obrador.

That said, the talks to sign the trade agreement have been frozen since December 2022 after Mexico put the negotiations on standby -just when they were close to the agreement's singing- due to the refusal to allow the entry of Ecuadorian shrimp and bananas into Mexico.

Lawsuit before the International Court of Justice for assault on the embassy in Ecuador

Foreign Secretary Alicia Bárcena also revealed today that in a lawsuit before the International Court of Justice the Mexican government is asking for Ecuador's suspension as a member of the United Nations if it does not apologize for the recent break-in at the Mexican embassy in Quito.

The official explained that the lawsuit will be submitted and that with it Mexico wants to test the international justice system so that situations like the one that happened in the Ecuadorian capital do not repeat.

The lawsuit includes specific requests for Ecuador to be declared responsible for the damage caused to Mexico and its citizens, as well as the suspension of that country as a member of the UN until it issues a public apology recognizing the violations to the fundamental principles and norms of international law.

Furthermore, Mexico seeks to establish a precedent for future similar cases, proposing that any government that acts in a manner similar to Ecuador be permanently expelled from the UN.

“It is so important to avoid the repetition of these cases that the International Court of Justice will be able to consider the expelling of the nation that violates international law quickly and expeditiously before the UN Security Council, avoiding the veto of its members,” said the head of the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Alicia Bárcena, during a morning conference this Thursday.

For his part, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said that he not only seeks to repair the damage caused to Mexico, but also set a precedent to prevent future violations of the Vienna Convention and strengthen the international justice system.

The Secretary of Foreign Affairs reported that she will submit the lawsuit before the Court this April 11.