This Thursday, November 13, starting at 9 in the morning, the Supreme Preparatory Investigation Court will hold a key hearing in the case of Betssy Chavez, Pedro Castillo’s former minister sheltered in the Mexican Embassy in Lima. During this hearing, the request for 18-month preventive detention presented by Supreme Prosecutor Zoraida Ávalos will be evaluated, who has argued that the measure is necessary due to the defendant’s failure to comply with the restrictions imposed on her within the framework of her judicial process.
Prosecutor Ávalos’ request is based on Betssy Chávez’s failure to comply with several measures imposed to guarantee her presence at the trial and her monitoring during the investigation. Among these measures, his lack of attendance at biometric registration stands out, a crucial obligation that was imposed on him to control his location.
“After failure to comply with all the restrictions imposed on the accused Betssy Chávez Chino, that is, the obligation to register her biometric control every 7 days (…) The obligation not to be absent from the town of Lima without authorization from the Court (…) and the obligation to appear before the judicial or prosecutorial authority at the time and date that is required (…) irrefutably demonstrates that she violated the rules of conduct imposed against her,” the prosecutor noted in her request.
In her request for preventive detention, Ávalos indicated that the former minister violated the established rules of conduct, which makes it essential to reevaluate her procedural situation and the imposition of a more severe measure. The prosecutor’s request is based on the need to guarantee that the accused appears before justice and that due process is followed.
Betssy Chávez faces charges for her connection to the events that occurred after the dismissal of Pedro Castillo in December 2022. In this context, the accused was subject to an 18-month preventive detention order, which was annulled by the Constitutional Court. However, the Court’s decision did not put an end to the controversy, since the former minister continued to be absent from her trial and her whereabouts remained unknown for several days.
Despite continued absences and a lack of information about his location, the Mexican government announced on November 3 that Chávez had received political asylum at the Mexican Embassy in Lima. This situation has generated a series of reactions both in Peru and internationally, since it is considered that the former minister is in a complex legal situation as she is not subject to Peruvian laws within the diplomatic headquarters.
The asylum granted to Betssy Chávez has been a topic of debate in the diplomatic sphere. The Peruvian government, through Foreign Minister Hugo de Zela, expressed its disagreement with Mexico’s decision and stated that it would present the case to the Organization of American States (OAS). This diplomatic dispute has raised tension between both countries and generated uncertainty about the future of Chávez, who is protected by diplomatic immunity while his legal situation is resolved.
The Peruvian government has also indicated that, for the moment, it has not decided whether it will grant safe conduct that would allow Chávez to leave the Mexican Embassy and leave the country. This decision is linked to the need to guarantee that the former minister faces justice in the country, a process that has been complicated by her recent asylum and the dispute with Mexico over the legality of her departure from Peru.
The future of Pedro Castillo’s former minister will depend on the decisions made at the hearing this Thursday. If the Supreme Preparatory Investigation Court accepts the prosecutor’s request and establishes preventive detention, Betssy Chávez’s situation could become even more complicated, since her departure from the Mexican embassy would not be possible without a resolution from the Peruvian authorities.
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