The Peruvian government declared person non grata the Mexican ambassador, Pablo Monroy Conesa, and gave him 72 hours to leave Lima for “interference” in the country’s internal affairs. An escalation in the diplomatic crisis between the two nations due to the impeachment and arrest of former President Pedro Castillo.
The decision was made known after Mexico announced the granting of political asylum to the family of the former president, who was ousted on December 7 after trying to dissolve Congress and reorganize the judicial system.
The Peruvian government also announced that it had granted safe passage to Castillo’s wife, Lilia Paredes, and their minor children, Arnold and Alondra, to travel to Mexico, although it stressed that the woman is accused of corruption and that eventually it will be possible to request his extradition.
“The government of Peru has declared persona non grata to the Mexican ambassador of Peru, Pablo Monroy Conesa, for the repeated expressions of the high authorities of that country about the political situation in Peru,” said Peruvian Foreign Minister Ana Gervasi Díaz. She said that the diplomat has been notified that he has 72 hours to leave the country.
Mexico, Argentina, Colombia and Bolivia issued a joint statement last week indicating that Castillo had been the victim of political “harassment” since he assumed power and urged the new government of Peru to “refrain from reversing the popular will expressed” at the polls. .
The Boluarte government immediately rejected that position and called in consultation with its ambassadors in those countries for “interference in the internal affairs” of the country.
Gervasi Díaz specified that the decision to expel the Mexican ambassador is based on the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and assured that “there is no political persecution in Peru and that the rule of law and the separation of powers prevail.”
The Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the measure was adopted due to statements of “special concern” by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador about the state of emergency, democratic order, the rule of law and legality in Peru, in addition to “the arrest of the former President Pedro Castillo, the same one that was carried out in flagrante in accordance with the law after he announced a coup d’état”.
He said that the expressions of the president “are especially serious in circumstances in which the country faces a situation of violence incompatible with the exercise of the legitimate right of every person to demonstrate peacefully.”
The Secretary of Foreign Relations said in a statement: “The Mexican government takes note of the communication declaring Ambassador Pablo Monroy Conesa persona non grata. The Ministry of Foreign Relations has instructed Ambassador Pablo Monroy Conesa to return to Mexico in order to protect his security and physical integrity.
The Mexican embassy will be in charge of the first secretary Karla Tatiana Ornelas Loera, current head of the mission’s Foreign Ministry. The representation will continue to operate normally, added the SRE.
Mexico has a long tradition of granting asylum to various politicians and personalities, among the best known are Leon Trotski and Luis Buñuell, among many others. More recently, former Bolivian President Evo Morales was granted asylum.
