The government of Claudia Sheinbaum rejected the accusations from the Ecuadorian Army regarding a supposed sending of Mexican hitmen to attack President Daniel Noboa. The Foreign Affairs Ministry described the document as an 'unscrupulous creation of narratives' by Ecuador, a country with which diplomatic relations were severed due to the invasion of the Mexican Embassy in Quito.
'We reject official statements and/or leaks of official documents that refer to Mexico as a source of supposed criminal acts or internal situations in that country,' published in a statement this Saturday, April 19. The alleged plot against the president of Ecuador caused the army of that country to declare a maximum alert in the face of the possibility of attacks aimed at 'heating the streets' and provoking chaos in the country. 'They will test our determination,' added the Ecuadorian authorities.
The Ecuadorian newspaper El Universo revealed an official document from the Joint Command of the Armed Forces (Comaco) of Ecuador, which discusses alleged plans to attempt against the life of elected President Daniel Noboa. According to the document, behind the supposed attacks are groups of organized crime from Mexico. 'It is known that, following the electoral results of April 13, 2025, transfers of hitmen from Mexico and other countries to Ecuador have begun, with the intent of carrying out terrorist attacks against the President of the Republic, his ministerial cabinet, and his work team,' details the document.
Ecuador has been under an 'internal armed conflict' since 2024 that Noboa declared to confront organized crime gangs, which he declared war on and began to label as terrorists. The criminal organizations are behind the escalation of violence that led Ecuador to become, in 2023, the country in Latin America with the highest homicide rate, while 2025 has begun as the most violent year on record, averaging approximately one murder per hour.
The break in relations between Mexico and Ecuador occurred after Ecuadorian authorities stormed the Mexican Embassy in Quito in April 2024 to arrest Jorge Glas, former vice president in the government of Rafael Correa. The events occurred at a time of maximum tension in relations between the nations, after President Noboa's government expelled the Mexican ambassador due to statements made by former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador regarding the murder of candidate Fernando Villavicencio in 2024 and its effect on the elections won by Noboa.
Recently, President Claudia Sheinbaum emphasized that Mexico will not resume relations with Ecuador while Noboa is president.
