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
Deportation flight lands in Venezuela; government denies criminal gang links
A flight carrying 175 Venezuelan migrants deported from the United States arrived in Caracas on Sunday. This marks the third group to return since repatriation flights resumed a week ago, and among them is an alleged member of a criminal organization, according to Venezuelan authorities.
Unlike previous flights operated by the Venezuelan state airline Conviasa, this time, an aircraft from the U.S. airline Eastern landed at Maiquetía Airport, on the outskirts of Caracas, shortly after 2:00 p.m. with the deportees.
Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, who welcomed the returnees at the airport, stated that the 175 repatriated individuals were coming back “after being subjected, like all Venezuelans, to persecution” and dismissed claims that they belonged to the criminal organization El Tren de Aragua.
However, Cabello confirmed that “for the first time in these flights we have been carrying out, someone of significance wanted by Venezuelan justice has arrived, and he is not from El Tren de Aragua.” Instead, he belongs to a gang operating in the state of Trujillo. The minister did not disclose the individual’s identity or provide details on where he would be taken.
International
Son of journalist José Rubén Zamora condemns father’s return to prison as “illegal”
The son of renowned journalist José Rubén Zamora Marroquín, José Carlos Zamora, has denounced as “illegal” the court order that sent his father back to a Guatemalan prison on March 3, after already spending 819 days behind barsover a highly irregular money laundering case.
“My father’s return to prison was based on an arbitrary and illegal ruling. It is also alarming that the judge who had granted him house arrest received threats,” José Carlos Zamora told EFE in an interview on Saturday.
The 67-year-old journalist was sent back to prison inside the Mariscal Zavala military barracks on March 3, when Judge Erick García upheld a Court of Appeals ruling that overturned the house arrest granted to him in October. Zamora had already spent 819 days in prison over an alleged money laundering case.
His son condemned the situation as “unacceptable”, stating that the judge handling the case “cannot do his job in accordance with the law due to threats against his life.”
International
Miyazaki’s style goes viral with AI but at what cost?
This week, you may have noticed that everything—from historical photos and classic movie scenes to internet memes and recent political moments—has been reimagined on social media as Studio Ghibli-style portraits. The trend quickly went viral thanks to ChatGPT and the latest update of OpenAI’s chatbot, released on Tuesday, March 25.
The newest addition to GPT-4o has allowed users to replicate the distinctive artistic style of the legendary Japanese filmmaker and Studio Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki (My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away). “Today is a great day on the internet,” one user declared while sharing popular memes in Ghibli format.
While the trend has captivated users worldwide, it has also highlighted ethical concerns about AI tools trained on copyrighted creative works—and what this means for the livelihoods of human artists.
Not that this concerns OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, which has actively encouraged the “Ghiblification”experiments. Its CEO, Sam Altman, even changed his profile picture on the social media platform X to a Ghibli-style portrait.
Miyazaki, now 84 years old, is known for his hand-drawn animation approach and whimsical storytelling. He has long expressed skepticism about AI’s role in animation. His past remarks on AI-generated animation have resurfaced and gone viral again, particularly when he once said he was “utterly disgusted” by an AI demonstration.
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