MEXICO CITY, April 5 (Xinhua) -- Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Friday that he will not break diplomatic relations with Ecuador, after the South American country declared Mexican ambassador Raquel Serur "persona non grata."
During his regular daily press conference, the Mexican president said he had instructed Serur to return to Mexico following the Ecuadorian government's declaration, adding that even with Serur's return, Mexico will maintain representation at its embassy in Quito.
"We will not break off relations, nor will we do the same with the Ecuadorian ambassador," Lopez Obrador told journalists at the National Palace in Mexico City.
The Ecuadorian government declared the Mexican ambassador "persona non grata" on Thursday. The measure was taken after the Mexican president made statements during his Wednesday press conference about the general elections in Ecuador in 2023 and the assassination of former presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio.
The declaration of "persona non grata" implies that the Mexican ambassador must leave Ecuador within a short period, but does not signify the rupture of diplomatic relations, according to the Ecuadorian government.
It also occurred amid a dispute, after the Mexican government rejected Ecuadorian authorities' demand to enter the Mexican embassy in Ecuador to arrest former Ecuadorian vice president Jorge Glas, who has been in refuge there since December and faces charges of alleged embezzlement. ■