Peru cuts ties with Mexico over asylum for ex-prime minister | Information

Transfer comes after Betssy Chavez, who’s on trial on coup prices, fled to the Mexican Embassy in Peru.

Peru has severed diplomatic relations with Mexico after accusing it of granting asylum to a former Peruvian prime minister who’s on trial over an alleged coup try in 2022.

The announcement on Monday got here hours after former Prime Minister Betssy Chavez – who served underneath former President Pedro Castillo – fled to the Mexican Embassy in Peru.

“Immediately we discovered with shock and deep remorse that Betssy Chavez, the alleged co-author of the coup try by former President Pedro Castillo, is being granted asylum on the Mexican Embassy residence in Peru,” Minister of International Affairs Hugo de Zela informed a information convention.

“Given this unfriendly act, and contemplating the repeated cases through which the present and former presidents of that nation have interfered in Peru’s inside affairs, the Peruvian authorities has determined to sever diplomatic relations with Mexico at this time,” he added.

There was no quick remark from Mexico.

Chavez’s lawyer, Raul Noblecilla, informed native radio station RPP that he had not heard from his shopper in a number of days and was unaware of whether or not she had requested asylum.

Chavez, who served in Castillo’s cupboard as Minister of Tradition, was appointed as prime minister in November 2022 amid a months-long standoff between the president and the Congress.

Castillo – a former rural schoolteacher and commerce unionist, dubbed Peru’s “first poor president” – was impeached by lawmakers the next month when he tried to dissolve the Congress.

Relations between Lima and Mexico deteriorated sharply afterwards.

Following his impeachment, Castillo was on his strategy to the Mexican embassy in Lima to request asylum when he was arrested and charged with revolt and abuse of authority.

Chavez was charged alongside him.

In December 2022, Peru expelled Mexico’s ambassador after Mexico granted asylum to Castillo’s spouse and kids.

Castillo’s successor, then-President Dina Boluarte, additionally briefly recalled Peru’s ambassador to Mexico Metropolis in February 2023, accusing then-left-wing president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of meddling in her nation’s affairs for expressing assist for Castillo.

The previous president and Chavez went on trial in March of this yr.

Whereas Castillo has been in preventive custody since his impeachment, Chavez was launched on bail in September.

Prosecutors had sought a 25-year time period for Chavez for allegedly collaborating in Castillo’s plan to dissolve Congress.

They’ve sought a 34-year sentence for Castillo.

The pair has denied the fees.