When Mexico and Ecuador face off in the Round of 32 of the 2026 World Cup at Mexico City Stadium, it will be more than just a soccer match. It will be the first-ever World Cup meeting between the two national teams, taking place while the countries are mired in one of Latin America’s most serious diplomatic crises in recent years—a crisis that remains unresolved and involves fundamental principles of international law.
In April 2024, Ecuadorian police forces forcibly stormed Mexico’s diplomatic mission in Quito to arrest former Vice President Jorge Glas, who had been granted political asylum by the Mexican government.
Under international law, the incident was exceptionally grave. The 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations—the treaty governing diplomatic conduct between states—unequivocally establishes the inviolability of diplomatic mission premises: no agent of the receiving state may enter without the consent of the head of mission. Ecuador did so anyway.
The international community generally condemned the action. Bodies such as the OAS and numerous governments in the region described the event as a flagrant violation of norms that have served as the cornerstone of relations between nations since the 20th century.
Following the incident, Mexico withdrew all its diplomatic personnel and indefinitely closed its embassy and consulates in Ecuador. Since then, the only channel of communication between the two countries has operated through Switzerland acting as a “protecting power”—a mechanism specifically designed for such instances of diplomatic rupture.
