Claudia Sheinbaum denounces claims of a Mexican assassination plot against Ecuador’s President Noboa as ‘shameless political fiction’—what’s really behind the tension?
The government of Claudia Sheinbaum has rejected the accusation that Mexican hitmen traveled to Ecuador to attack President Daniel Noboa, calling it a “shameless creation of narratives.”
Mexico and Ecuador have not had diplomatic relations since Noboa ordered the assault on the Mexican embassy in Quito to arrest former Vice President Jorge Glas.
The government of Claudia Sheinbaum rejected accusations by Ecuador’s military about the alleged dispatch of Mexican hitmen to target President Daniel Noboa.
The Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs labeled the claim as a “shameless creation of narratives” by Ecuador, a country with which it severed diplomatic ties following the invasion of the Mexican Embassy in Quito.
“We reject official statements and/or leaks of official documents that refer to Mexico as the source of alleged criminal acts or internal situations in that country,” the Ministry said in a statement on Saturday, April 19.
The alleged plot against Ecuador’s president led that country’s military to declare a maximum alert over possible attacks aimed at “heating up the streets” and inciting chaos.
“They will test our resolve. Let them not forget: we prevail and will continue to prevail. With faith in God and the strength of the State, we will bring every criminal to their knees,” the military said in a written statement.
The Ecuadorian newspaper El Universo revealed a report from the Joint Command of the Armed Forces (Comaco) of Ecuador, which mentions supposed plans to assassinate President-elect Daniel Noboa.
According to the report, organized crime groups from Mexico are allegedly behind the planned attacks.
“It is known that following the election results of April 13, 2025, hitmen have been transported from Mexico and other countries to Ecuador with the aim of carrying out terrorist attacks against the President of the Republic, his cabinet, and his work team,” the document states.
Since 2024, Ecuador has been under an “internal armed conflict” declared by Noboa to combat criminal gangs, which he labeled as terrorist organizations.
These criminal groups are responsible for the rise in violence that made Ecuador the Latin American country with the highest homicide rate in 2023. The year 2025 has begun as the most violent on record, averaging approximately one murder per hour.
Diplomatic relations were broken after Ecuadorian authorities stormed the Mexican embassy in Quito in April 2024 to arrest Jorge Glas, former vice president during Rafael Correa’s administration.
This occurred during heightened tensions between the two nations, after Noboa’s government expelled the Mexican ambassador over remarks made by former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador regarding the 2024 assassination of candidate Fernando Villavicencio and its influence on the election won by Noboa.
Recently, President Claudia Sheinbaum reiterated that Mexico will not reestablish relations with Ecuador as long as Noboa remains president. She also did not recognize his electoral victory and echoed leftist candidate Luisa González’s claims of fraud.
“We will not resume relations with Ecuador while Noboa is president because he ordered the assault on the Mexican embassy,” she said on April 16.
