Jorge Glas is on hunger strike in Guayaquil prison following a failed suicide attempt, Correa says

Ecuador’s former vice president Jorge Glas attempted suicide earlier this week and is now on a hunger strike at a prison in Guayaquil to protest his arrest, his lawyer Sonia Vera and former president Rafael Correa said on Wednesday.

Former vice president Jorge Glas, left, with President Rafael Correa in 2014.

Glas, already twice convicted of corruption and now facing fresh charges, was arrested on Friday after a raid by police on Mexico’s Quito embassy, where he had been living since December.

Glas was taken to hospital on Monday after the prison service said he refused to eat food provided in jail and became ill. Doctors said the former vice president had ingested large quantities of sleeping pills and anti-depressants.

“We have confirmed that the medical emergency was a suicide attempt. He has not eaten anything and is on a hunger strike,” Correa said in a message on X, which was confirmed by Vera in a WhatsApp message. Correa has also been convicted of corruption and lives in exile in Belgium.

In a separate message on X, Vera included a video of Glas recounting his arrest last week.

The arrest capped a week of growing tensions between Mexico and Ecuador, after Quito declared the Mexican ambassador persona non grata, citing “unfortunate” comments by leftist Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

Ecuador’s government has said that it has evidence that Glas was planning to escape, though it has not provided details.

He was discharged from hospital on Tuesday and returned to prison.

Video clips from inside the embassy broadcast during Lopez Obrador’s daily press conference on Tuesday showed a door violently forced open as well as a man, who appeared to be Glas, being carried out, his arms and legs hoisted up by police or soldiers.

Correa, who could be facing additional charges as a result of new testimony regarding corrupt judges, is urging the international community to impose sanctions on Ecuador for its embassy raid. On Tuesday, he sent a video plea to the European Union to suspend its trade agreement with Ecuador.