At a time when Mexico and Ecuador are supposed to work together to stop the drug trade, Ecuador is instead kicking out Mexico's ambassador to the country over recent comments made by Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador about last year's Ecuadorian elections.

Mexico's Ambassador to Ecuador, Raquel Serur Smeke, must now leave the country "soon," according to the Foreign Ministry of Ecuador, telling Reuters that she has been declared as "persona non grata" by the country.

Her expulsion came a day after President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador commented on the 2023 Ecuadorian elections, which resulted in the death of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio. He compared the assassination to the recent killings of local candidates happening all over Mexico.

Mexico's elections are considered the biggest ever, and already, several mayoral candidates, including ones from Lopez Obrador's own Morena Party, have been gunned down. In his remarks, AMLO noted that Ecuador's leftist presidential hopeful, Luisa Gonzalez, was treated unfairly and was unjustly blamed for the killing of Villavicencio.

"I'm talking about this so that owners of media outlets and those who are participating in these campaigns take responsibility," AMLO continued, blaming this on his usual targets, the media.

Ecuador took offense to these comments, with the country's foreign ministry commenting that the country is still in mourning over Villavicencio's assassination, adding that the "government is committed to the principle of non-intervention in the internal matters of other countries."

Gonzalez lost the election to the eventual winner, President Daniel Nobua, who comes from Ecuador's wealthiest family. He vowed to deal with the surge in crime that was brought about by local gangs in Ecuador teaming up with the dangerous and well-funded drug cartels in Mexico to transport illegal drugs from Colombia to North America.

READ MORE: Ecuador Violence Worsens as 9 Dead, 10 Injured in Shooting Attack in Guayaquil

Recent Storming of Colombia TV Station Connected to Drug Cartels from Mexico

This recent row between Mexico and Colombia comes as criminal organizations between these two countries have been increasing their cooperation. This is evident in the incident where a local drug gang took over an Ecuadorian TV station. It is now revealed that the gang that attacked the station is connected to Mexican drug cartels.

Mexican drug cartels have infiltrated local Ecuadorian drug gangs, and these organizations have been working together to ship cocaine from Colombia and Peru, which share a border with Ecuador, to North America and Europe.

The two biggest Mexican cartels, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) and the Sinaloa Cartel, which was founded by El Chapo, have already affiliated themselves with local gangs in Ecuador, including the gang that attacked the TV station. In particular, the men come from a gang affiliated with the CJNG.

Ecuador Gangs Use Bananas to Ship Cocaine Around the World, Mexican Drug Cartels Are Helping

Ecuador was long considered a bastion for peace in Latin America as it was a generally unproblematic country, but everything changed when the Mexican cartels arrived.

Their most infamous modus operandi is to use ships sailing from Ecuador to the US, Mexico, and Europe to distribute cocaine from Colombia and Peru. They hide the illegal drugs in banana containers where waiting cartel agents take the shipments to distribute the products all over the world, including distant markets in Asia, Australia, and Africa.

READ MORE: Ecuador Political Violence Continues as Local Political Leader Is Killed

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

WATCH: Drug cartels unleash wave of violence in Ecuador | DW News