The president of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, reported this Wednesday that diplomatic officials from the Cuban Embassy in Quito began to burn documents after his government ordered the departure of the Cuban ambassador and the rest of the mission's personnel within 48 hours.
According to videos circulated by various media on the X platform, officials have set papers on fire on the roof of the diplomatic headquarters.
The complaint comes amid a new diplomatic clash between Quito and Havana, after Ecuador declared Ambassador Basilio Antonio Gutiérrez García persona "non grata" and extended the measure to all diplomatic, consular, and administrative staff of the Cuban mission.
The declaration was issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and granted a 48-hour deadline for the ambassador and the other Cuban officials to leave Ecuadorian territory.
The text in question does not explain the reasons for the expulsion; it only mentions the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961.
Tension in Ecuador
Allegedly, after the exit order, actions would have commenced at the embassy to destroy files: "A barbecue of documents," Noboa added in the video.
The incident is also known in a context of internal political polarization. Former President Rafael Correa criticized the expulsion of the Cuban diplomats and stated that when he heard it, he thought it was "a joke," in addition to hurling insults at Noboa in a post on X.
Along with the expulsion of Cuban personnel, Noboa's government also terminated José María Borja López's role as Ecuador's ambassador to Cuba, a position he had held since 2021, according to the cited information.
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