just hours after the controversial politician was seized late at night from the Mexican embassy in the capital of Quito.

The move triggered a suspension of diplomatic ties with Mexico.

Mexican Foreign Minister Alicia Barcena said all diplomatic personnel in Ecuador were to leave "immediately."

Glas, who has been convicted twice for corruption, had been holed up in the embassy in Quito since seeking political asylum in December.

Mexico had granted the request earlier on Friday.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador blasted the unusual diplomatic incursion and arrest as an "authoritarian" act as well as a breach of international law and Mexico's sovereignty.

The government of Ecuador's President Daniel Noboa had argued asylum protections were illegal because of the corruption charges Glas is facing.

Still, under international law, embassies are considered the sovereign territory of the country they represent.

On Saturday, governments across the political spectrum in Latin America - including Brazil and Colombia on the left, and Argentina and Uruguay on the right - sharply criticized the arrest of Glas.

In 2017, Glas was sentenced to six years in prison after he was found guilty of taking bribes from a Brazilian construction firm in exchange for awarding it government contracts.

As he faced a fresh arrest warrant on separate graft charges, Glas has claimed he is the victim of political persecution, a charge Ecuador's government has denied.

The arrest caps a week of escalating tensions between Mexico and Ecuador.

Ecuadorean officials were angered by Lopez Obrador's comments on the South American country's bloody elections last year, in which a presidential candidate was assassinated.