Colombia-Ecuador tensions reach new depths with dispute about convicted Vice President Jorge Glas

The diplomatic fallout between Colombia and Ecuador reached new depths Tuesday as President Daniel Noboa issued a rebuke of his Colombian counterpart, Gustavo Petro.

Noboa said Petro’s comments about former Ecuadorian Vice President Jorge Glas were an “attack on sovereignty.”

The confrontation follows a post by Petro on US social media company X in which he labeled Glas a “political prisoner.”

“Now that they are trying to reinvent the ‘political prisoner,’ I want to be emphatic: this constitutes an attack on our sovereignty and a violation of the principle of non-intervention,” said Noboa, citing Article 19 of the Organization of American States Charter. “This country has waited years to see the corrupt held accountable. Today, from abroad, they want to peddle a myth to cover up the obvious: there is a corrupt individual in prison who must answer to Ecuador.”

Colombia granted citizenship to Glas last September. Petro has since repeatedly pressured Ecuador to hand him over as a gesture “toward peace among Latin American nations.”

Petro revealed Monday that he personally asked Noboa to release Glas during a meeting in the Galapagos in December 2024.

“There is no doubt that Jorge Glas is a political prisoner,” said Petro. “There should be no political prisoners in the Americas.”

Noboa listed the specific criminal convictions that keep Glas behind bars. Without naming Glas, Noboa noted that he must answer for the Odebrecht case that involves criminal conspiracy in a transnational bribery network and other crimes, including bribery, embezzlement and misappropriation of public funds.

Glas is serving a combined sentence of 13 years at a maximum-security facility built under the Noboa administration.

On Saturday, an Ecuadorian judge denied a "corrective habeas corpus" petition filed by Glas’ legal team that sought to increase his food rations and provide specialized medical care, but the court ruled that his rights were not being violated and that he was receiving the necessary attention within the prison system.

The standoff marks another chapter in the deteriorating relationship between the two neighbors that started to break down with an ongoing trade war and border security concerns.