Peru breaks relations with Mexico for giving asylum to former Prime Minister Betssy Chávez

The Peruvian Foreign Ministry announced that the South American country broke diplomatic relations with Mexico following the asylum granted by the Mexican embassy to former prime minister, Betssy Chávez, who is being prosecuted for the failed coup d'état of December 2022 by ex-president Pedro Castillo.

"Today we have learned with surprise and with deep regret that ex-premier Betssy Chávez, alleged co-author of the coup d'état that former President Pedro Castillo attempted to execute, is being held in asylum at the residence of the Mexican embassy in Peru", said Chancellor Hugo de Zela in a press conference.

"Peremptory deadline" for the head of the Mexican embassy to leave Peru

"Faced with this unfriendly act and taking into account the repeated occasions on which the current and former presidents of that country have intervened in Peru's internal affairs, the Peruvian government has decided on the date to break diplomatic relations with Mexico," he added.

After the rupture of diplomatic relations, President José Jerí announced on his X account "that the person in charge of the Mexican embassy in Peru, Karla Ornela, was informed by the chancellor that she has a peremptory term to leave" the country.

Mexico describes the measure as "excessive and disproportionate"

Mexico, on its part, qualified as "excessive and disproportionate" the Peruvian decision by pointing out that the asylum to Chávez is a "legitimate act (...) and in accordance with international law" which does not intervene "in any way" in Peru's internal affairs.

Chavez maintains that "she has been object of repeated violations to her human rights as part of a political persecution by the Peruvian State since the moment of her capture in 2023", indicated the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement.

It also highlighted that her asylum complies with the Caracas Convention on the matter, which establishes that the granting State is "the only one empowered to qualify the nature of the persecution against" the applicant.

Both countries withdrew their respective ambassadors after Castillo's arrest

Mexico maintains a historic tradition of welcoming leftists who denounce political persecution. In recent years it granted it to figures such as former Bolivian President Evo Morales and former Ecuadorian Vice President Jorge Glas.

Relations between Peru and Mexico began to deteriorate after Castillo's dismissal in December 2022, when the then Mexican ruler Andrés Manuel López Obrador granted asylum to the wife and children of the former Peruvian president.

Since then, the Mexican government has not recognized any Peruvian authority. As a result, both countries withdrew their ambassadors. Despite the political crisis, Peru and Mexico maintained their bilateral trade.

The prosecution requests 25 years of imprisonment for Chávez

Chávez was being prosecuted together with Castillo for the alleged crime of rebellion, since March 2025. The prosecution requests 25 years of imprisonment for her for having participated as ex-president of the Council of Ministers in Castillo's plan.

Chávez is prosecuted at liberty while Castillo has been serving preventive imprisonment since December 2022.

Sheinbaum qualified Castillo as "politically persecuted"

Peruvian Chancellor De Zela indicated that "the President of Mexico has had unacceptable and false expressions in the sense that Pedro Castillo is the victim of political persecution".

"They have tried to convert the authors of the coup attempt into victims, when reality shows that Peruvians live in democracy, as recognized by all the countries of the world, with the sole and solitary exception of Mexico," emphasized the head of diplomacy.

Failed coup d'état, impeachment and arrest of Pedro Castillo

On December 7, 2022, Castillo announced his decision to dissolve Congress and convene a constituent assembly. On that day he was to be subjected to a vacancy (impeachment) motion under charges of alleged corruption.

Without military backing, he was finally impeached with votes from left and right-wing benches, and detained by police as he was on his way with his family to the Mexican embassy in Lima. His wife and two children have since been living in asylum in that country.

"I never took up arms," Castillo has always invoked, indicating that his order was not carried out because the military did not obey his orders.