International
The International Court of Justice sees no reason for precautionary measures against Quito for assault on the Mexican embassy
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) did not consider that there is “urgency” or a “real and imminent risk” that requires the issuance of the precautionary measures requested by Mexico against Ecuador in response to the assault on its embassy in Quito, although it emphasized “the fundamental importance” of respecting the Vienna Convention.
The court refused to issue precautionary measures today because it considered that “the guarantees given” by Ecuador already “cover the concerns expressed by Mexico.”
The Court warned that “unilateral declarations can give rise to legal obligations, and the States concerned can assume the unilateral declarations and trust them, and have the right to demand that the obligation thus created be respected.”
During the hearings on the precautionary measures, at the beginning of the month, Quito made a move forth and announced that it has already given written “guarantees” to Mexico that it will fulfill its duty to respect and protect its personnel and diplomatic headquarters, as requested by the Mexican Government to the ICJ, thus avoiding being the subject of orders from the UN judges today.
Ecuador’s guarantees include “commitments to provide full protection and security to the facilities, properties and archives of Mexico’s diplomatic mission in Quito, as well as allowing the eviction of that mission and the private residences of Mexican diplomatic agents,” the president of the ICJ, Nawaf Salam, said today.
Based on this, the highest UN court decided that “the circumstances as presented to the Court are not such as to require the exercise of its power” to indicate precautionary measures against the Ecuadorian Government after assaulting the Mexican Embassy in Quito and arresting Jorge Glas, former vice president of Rafael Correa (2007-2017), on April 5.
“Currently there is no urgency, in the sense that there is no real and imminent risk of irreparable damage to the rights claimed,” added Salam, who read the ruling.
However, he stressed “the fundamental importance of the consecrated principle” in the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, and reminded Ecuador that “its good faith in compliance” of the guarantees given to Mexico is presumed.
“These guarantees are especially important during the period necessary for Mexico to evict the facilities of its Embassy in Quito, as well as the private residences of its diplomatic agents. The Court considers that the guarantees given by the Agent of Ecuador on behalf of his Government, which were given publicly before the Court and formulated unconditionally, are binding and create legal obligations for the defendant,” he added.
Before concluding the session in which he announced the decision, Salam noted that “there is no more fundamental requirement for the conduct of relations between States than the inviolability of diplomatic missions and embassies” and recalled that, throughout history, “nations of all creeds and cultures have observed reciprocal obligations with that purpose, in particular the institution of diplomacy with its associated privileges and immunities.”
Last April, Mexico accused Ecuador before the ICJ of violating its obligations under the Bogotá Pact, the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, the letter of the Organization of American States, and the Charter of the United Nations.
The precautionary measures are issued, if necessary, in a provisional phase, before entering to assess the merits of the case, so this decision is not a judgment on the admissibility of the case, or on the existence or not of the violations alleged by Mexico against Ecuador, issues that will be discussed later, even without a date.
The Government of Ecuador welcomed this Thursday the unanimous decision of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) of The Hague to reject the precautionary measures requested by Mexico for the invasion of the Mexican embassy in Quito on April 5 by the Ecuadorian Police to arrest Jorge Glas, former vice president of Rafael Correa (2007-2017), who had been granted asylum hours earlier.
In a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility of Ecuador said that this ruling of the international court “confirms the unnecessary nature of the request” made by the Government of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
The precautionary measures requested by Mexico sought the UN judges to order Ecuador to respect and protect its staff and diplomatic headquarters, which the Ecuadorian Government had already guaranteed in writing during the hearings on the precautionary measures held at the beginning of the month.
International
Noboa once again entrusts the Vice President of Ecuador to the vice president he appointed by decree
The President of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, returned this Thursday to delegate – for the second time – the Presidency to the Secretary of Public Administration and Cabinet of the Presidency Cynthia Gellibert, whom he himself appointed by decree vice president in charge, in the face of the open confrontation he maintains with the vice president, Verónica Abad.
As he did last week, Noboa again issued a decree in which he announces that he is absent from the Presidency from Thursday to Sunday, to make an electoral campaign in search of his re-election in the elections of February 9, and during that period of time it will be Gellibert who will be in charge of the head of the State.
This action of the president of Ecuador is a matter of evaluation by the ordinary and constitutional justice at the request of the vice president, Verónica Abad, who claims to assume the presidential functions during the full period of the electoral campaign, in which according to the Constitution the head of state must ask for leave for being a candidate for re-election.
In his decree, Noboa argues that, although the Constitution determines that the Vice Presidency must assume the head of State in the event of the absence of the president, this “is not limited to the elected vice-president, but to the person who to date is exercising the functions of the Vice Presidency.”
Before appointing Gellibert as vice president in charge by decree, Noboa sent Abad to the Ecuadorian Embassy in Turkey, after a judge annulled the five-month suspension that the same Government had imposed on him. Until now, the vice president remains in Ecuador to claim to be the one who temporarily assumes the Presidency.
The new period of Gellibert with presidential powers began at 18:00 local time (23:00 GMT) this Thursday and is scheduled to end at 22:00 (03:00 GMT) next Sunday, time at which the debate between presidential candidates is expected to end where Noboa is summoned to participate.
After the debate, Noboa plans to travel to Washington to attend Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration, according to the Ecuadorian Presidency.
After the first assignment of the Presidency to Gellibert, Abad denounced a “coup d’état” and urged the Organization of American States (OAS) to apply the Democratic Charter, considering that the constitutional order had been broken because it had not received the presidential powers, as contemplated in the Ecuadorian Constitution.
In addition, he filed a protection action with which he seeks that the Justice annul the decrees in which Noboa appointed Gellibert as vice president in charge and delegated the Presidency to him. A court admitted the appeal on Friday, but did not accept some precautionary measures that Abad also asked for to suspend those effects immediately.
Controversies like this will be part of the analysis and evaluation of the electoral observation mission (EOM) of the European Union (EU) for the Ecuadorian elections, as anticipated on Wednesday by its leader, Spanish MEP Gabriel Mato.
The confrontation between Noboa and Abad began in the electoral campaign for the second round of elections for the extraordinary elections of 2023, and was reflected when he assumed the charges, when in one of his first decisions, the president sent the vice president to Israel as ambassador, with the mission of seeking peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
Abad has denounced Noboa for alleged political gender violence and has accused her of leading a harassment against her to force her to resign and thus avoid having to delegate the Presidency to her during the electoral campaign period, which runs from January 5 to February 6.
The titular vice president has also accused the Government of being behind the corruption investigation in the offices of the Vice Presidency that involves her son in a case where the Prosecutor’s Office also sought to indict Abad, but the National Assembly (Parliament) voted mostly against lifting the jurisdiction, although the ruling party voted in favor.
The general elections in Ecuador are called for Sunday, February 9 and, according to the polls published so far, Noboa and the candidate of the correismo Luisa González appear as prominent favorites to move on to the second round.
International
Musk’s Starship was lost after a smooth takeoff
The second stage of the Starship spacecraft, the largest and most powerful rocket in the world, was lost this Thursday after a smooth takeoff from the SpaceX base in Boca Chica, in southern Texas (USA), on the border with Mexico.
Before confirming the news, the company of technology tycoon Elon Musk pointed out during the live broadcast that it had lost contact with the rocket, which was supposed to dwell in the Indian Ocean.
However, the takeoff itself had no problems, and even the first stage, the Super Heavy, managed to return to land, to the base, and be caught by the clamps in a spectacular way, for the second time.
“The Starship spacecraft suffered a rapid and unforeseen dismantling during its ascent. The teams will continue to review the data from today’s flight test to better understand the root cause,” SpaceX said on the social network X.
He added that in a test like this, “success depends on what we learn, and today’s flight will help us improve the reliability of the Starship spacecraft.”
The rocket had been improved for this seventh test flight and the part that was lost was carrying cargo into space for the first time, in this case a dozen replicas of Starlink internet satellites.
The lost spacecraft was to fly in a suborbital trajectory for about an hour, after which it planned to land in the Indian Ocean, as in the last tests.
In these initial test flights, the idea is not to reach orbit but to go around the planet and descend by the tail ahead and propelled by rockets in the Indian Ocean.
The SpaceX company signed up for a new success on Thursday with the launch of the seventh test flight of the Starship, the largest and most powerful rocket in the world, which this time was improved, took cargo into space for the first time and also managed to catch the propeller on the ground for the second time on its return to the base in Texas.
The rocket had taken off today at 16:37 local time (22:37 GMT) powered by the Super Heavy as planned after several delays due to unfavorable weather conditions.
SpaceX proposed in this new Starship test to launch a ship with significant improvements, and attempt the first payload deployment test, the Starlink.
He also wanted to fly multiple reentry experiments aimed at capturing and reusing ships, and launching and returning the Super Heavy thruster to the base in Texas, as he succeeded.
As in the most recent test flights, the first stage propelled the upper one out of the dense lower atmosphere before returning in a controlled manner.
Remains of the Starship ship, the largest and most powerful rocket in the world, passed through the north of the Dominican Republic, according to electronic news pages from the United States and according to images spread on social networks.
International
Mark Carney announces his candidacy to replace Trudeau as Prime Minister of Canada
Former Bank of Canada governor (2008-2013) Mark Carney announced on Thursday that he will present his candidacy to lead the Liberal Party and become the country’s prime minister.
Carney, 59, who was also governor of the Bank of England (2013-2020), is the first of the main candidates to publicly communicate his desire to replace Justin Trudeau, who announced his resignation in December.
In a speech in the city of Edmonton, in the west of the country, he acknowledged that “the system is not working as it should” and that many people do not find affordable housing or a family doctor.
With a centrist and nationalist language, Carney declared that “these are normal times for us” and warned that “in just four days Donald Trump will become the 47th president (of the United States), a man who threatens his closest and most faithful allies, including Canada, with economic strength.”
In this sense, he explained that he wants to be the leader of the Liberal Party and Canadian Prime Minister because Canada faces “unprecedented challenges.”
Carney also referred to the leader of the Conservative Party, Pierre Poilievre, whom polls point so far as the winner of the next general elections, and criticized that he is worried “looking for the support of Donald Trump and Elon Musk.”
“Sending Poilievre to negotiate with Trump is the worst possible idea,” he added.
The former governor of the Bank of Canada recalled the seven years he spent at the head of the Bank of England: “In the United Kingdom I saw from the front row what happened there after years in which the conservatives shouted that the country was broken.”
“Conservatives don’t shout that Canada is broken because they want to fix it, what they want is permission to destroy it,” he said.
Carney concluded by pointing out that he will win the next elections to “build a strong economy for all and to defend Canada against Trump.”
The Liberal Party will reveal on March 9 the name of Trudeau’s substitute, who on December 16 announced that he will resign when the political formation chooses his substitute.
Chrystia Freeland, until December vice prime minister of the country, is expected to announce her candidacy next week, which will make her Carney’s main rival.
The opposition parties, which have a majority in Parliament, have already announced that as soon as the sessions of Parliament resume on March 24, they will present a motion of censure to hold early elections.
Noboa once again entrusts the Vice President of Ecuador to the vice president he appointed by decree
Musk’s Starship was lost after a smooth takeoff
Mark Carney announces his candidacy to replace Trudeau as Prime Minister of Canada
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