Authorities discovered a former Ecuadorean vice chairman, Jorge Glas, in a “deep self-induced coma” in jail on Monday, simply days after he was captured by the police in a dramatic arrest contained in the Mexican embassy in Quito.
Mr. Glas ingested anti-depressants and sedatives, in response to a police report, and was being transferred to a navy hospital for statement.
The former vice chairman faces a cost of embezzlement in Ecuador, and he had sought refuge within the Mexican embassy in an try and keep away from arrest. He turned the topic of a diplomatic scuffle final week when police in Quito entered the embassy and efficiently captured him, transferring him to a detention heart.
A 1961 diplomatic treaty says that governments can not enter overseas embassies with out permission from the embassy’s host nation, establishing a line that has been crossed solely on uncommon events.
Ecuador’s new president, Daniel Noboa, has been keen to look powerful on crime amid a rising safety disaster within the area, and he has defended the decision to detain Mr. Glas, calling him a prison, not a political prisoner.
Lawyers for Mr. Glas, an ally of former president Rafael Correa, say that he’s being politically persecuted. Mr. Glas served as vice chairman underneath Mr. Correa from 2013 to 2017.
Thalíe Ponce contributed reporting from in Guayaquil, Ecuador, and Genevieve Glatsky contributed from Bogotá, Colombia.