Mexico Considers Asylum For Peru's Impeached President

Mexico is considering granting asylum to Peru’s former president Pedro Castillo, who was impeached on Wednesday, Mexico’s foreign minister has said.

Eko Hot Blog reports that Mr Castillo is in custody in Peru and is likely facing charges of rebellion.

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Mr Castillo’s lawyer wrote to Mexico’s president late on Wednesday to request asylum for Mr Castillo.

The two countries are discussing the request, Mexico’s foreign minister said on Thursday.

The minister, Marcelo Ebrard, also said that Mexico’s ambassador to Peru had met with Mr Castillo.

Facing an impeachment vote by the opposition-controlled Congress on Wednesday, Mr Castillo announced he was dissolving the legislative body.

Congress defied him, voted overwhelmingly to remove him from office, and his bodyguards stopped him from seeking refuge at an embassy.

Just hours after impeaching Mr Castillo, Congress swore in his vice-president, Dina Boluarte, as the new President.

In a letter to Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador sent on Wednesday, Mr Castillo’s lawyer requested he “consider granting asylum … in the face of the unfounded persecution of justice bodies”.

Mr Castillo was facing “unfounded persecution”, the letter said.

“They intend to prosecute him for mere announcements of will or intention that do not constitute any criminal offence,” the letter added.

After tweeting the letter, Mr Ebrard then tweeted that the Mexican ambassador to Peru, Pablo Monroy, had said he had met Mr Castillo in Lima, the Peruvian capital.

“He found [Mr Castillo] physically well and in the company of his lawyer,” Mr Ebrard said.

President Lopez Obrador said earlier on Thursday that Mr Castillo had called him on Wednesday to say he was going to the Mexican embassy in Peru’s capital Lima to request asylum.

While Peru’s new president, Ms Boluarte, was Mr Castillo’s running mate in the 2021 election, she quickly distanced herself from him on Wednesday when he tried to dissolve Congress, a move she said was an “attempted coup.”