The family of Peru’s ousted president Pedro Castillo traveled to Mexico this Wednesday (21) to consolidate the political asylum offered by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

Former first lady Lilia Paredes and her two children left Lima overnight with Mexican ambassador Pablo Monroy.

The trip came hours after the Peruvian government gave Castillo’s family safe-conduct permission to leave the country. Lilia Paredes is being investigated by the Peruvian Public Ministry as the coordinator of a criminal organization run by her husband.

Castillo is in preventive detention as he tried to stage a coup in early December and was impeached by Congress. Since then, the streets of Peru have been filled with demonstrations questioning the government of Dina Boluarte, which came to power.

According to Peruvian media, Paredes arrived in Mexico City this Wednesday morning. “Our country has honored its tradition of asylum,” Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrad told the newspaper. Republic????????

Peruvian Prime Minister Ana Cecilia Gervasi stressed that the Peruvian government reserves the right to demand Paredes’ extradition if the local justice system requests it at any time.

diplomatic crisis

The incident increased diplomatic tensions between Peru and Mexico. The Peruvian government views Obrador’s support of Castillo as “interference” in the country’s internal affairs. In a further step in the escalation of the crisis, Pablo Monroy, Mexico’s ambassador to Lima, was declared persona non grata on Tuesday and left Peru for “72 hours”.

Traveling with Paredes, Monroy left his post in Lima yesterday. The Mexican diplomatic mission will be in charge of first secretary Karla Ornelas.

2024 early elections

In an attempt to defuse the crisis in the country, the Peruvian Congress yesterday approved the prediction of general elections from 2026 to 2024.

The reform, approved by 93 lawmakers, enables incumbent leader Dina Boluarte to hand over the mandate to the winner of the new election to be held in July 2024.

The president, whose resignation has been among the demands of the protests that have shaken the country in recent weeks, assures him that he is willing to step down from power in the second half of 2024.

For the reform to take effect, it must be approved by a new vote in the coming months.

According to opinion polls, 83% of the population is in favor of bringing the elections forward to solve the crisis.

(with information from AFP)