Peru declares Mexican ambassador persona non grata after asylum given to Castillo’s family

Peru granted the safe-conduct (permission) so that the family of ousted President Pedro Castillo can go to Mexico with asylum while declaring the ambassador of that country “persona non grata” and giving him “72 hours to leave” the country.

The Peruvian government’s decision responds to “the repeated expressions” of the Mexican government “about the political situation in Peru that constitute interference in our internal affairs,” Peruvian Foreign Minister Ana Cecilia Gervasi said Tuesday in a statement. Castillo’s family entered the Mexican embassy in Lima on Tuesday.

Pedro Castillo, a former left-wing ruler who took office last summer, is being held in the Peruvian capital after being ousted by Congress after trying to illegally dissolve it and reorganize the judiciary.

The former president had sought asylum in the Mexican embassy in Lima shortly after announcing that he would close parliament, but was detained by police and is currently serving 18-month pretrial detention while being investigated for “rebellion and conspiracy.”

“The asylum has already been granted because they are in Mexican territory, they are in our embassy (…) it is an independent and sovereign decision of Mexico,” Foreign Relations Secretary Marcelo Ebrard said Tuesday morning.

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