Authorities found a former Ecuadorean vice president, Jorge Glas, in a “deep self-induced coma” in jail on Monday, just days after he was captured by the police in a dramatic arrest inside the Mexican embassy in Quito.
Mr. Glas ingested anti-depressants and sedatives, according to a police report, and was being transferred to a military hospital for observation.
The former vice president faces a charge of embezzlement in Ecuador, and he had sought refuge in the Mexican embassy in an attempt to avoid arrest. He became the subject of a diplomatic scuffle last week when police in Quito entered the embassy and successfully captured him, transferring him to a detention center.
A 1961 diplomatic treaty says that governments cannot enter foreign embassies without permission from the embassy’s host country, establishing a line that has been crossed only on rare occasions.
Ecuador’s new president, Daniel Noboa, has been eager to appear tough on crime amid a growing security crisis in the region, and he has defended the decision to detain Mr. Glas, calling him a criminal, not a political prisoner.
Lawyers for Mr. Glas, an ally of former president Rafael Correa, say that he is being politically persecuted. Mr. Glas served as vice president under Mr. Correa from 2013 to 2017.
Thalié Ponce contributed reporting from in Guayaquil, Ecuador, and Genevieve Glatsky contributed from Bogotá, Colombia.
