Colombian President Gustavo Petro threatened on Friday to withdraw his country’s diplomatic mission from Peru if that country attacks the Mexican embassy residence in Lima, where former Peruvian Prime Minister Betssy Chávez is currently under asylum. A judge has ordered Chávez to be held in pretrial detention for five months.
“If Peru attacks the Mexican embassy, Colombia will withdraw its embassy,” Petro stated on social media regarding the case of Chávez, who is being tried for the failed coup attempt by leftist former President Pedro Castillo in December 2012.
Supreme Court Justice Juan Carlos Checkley ordered Chávez’s international arrest and five months of pretrial detention, arguing that he made the decision because the risk of flight is “palpable” due to her failure to appear for biometric registration checks and court hearings.
On the eve of this court ruling, Peruvian Prime Minister Ernesto Álvarez denied that his country would storm the Mexican embassy in Lima to arrest Chávez, as Ecuador did with former Vice President Jorge Glas, a member of the Correa administration, because—he said—Peru respects international law.
Why did Betssy Chávez seek asylum at the Mexican embassy?
Chávez was arrested in June 2023 and remained in pretrial detention until September of this year for her alleged participation in Castillo’s attempted coup, for which the Prosecutor’s Office is seeking a 25-year prison sentence for the crime of rebellion.
The former prime minister was released after the Constitutional Court recognized that she was the victim of arbitrary detention when the Prosecutor’s Office failed to request an extension of her pretrial detention in a timely manner. Two weeks ago, she received asylum from the Mexican government.
In response, the transitional government of Peru, headed by José Jerí, decided to sever bilateral diplomatic relations, which had been operating without ambassadors since 2023, as Mexico did not recognize the legitimacy of then-Peruvian President Dina Boluarte (2022-2025), who replaced Castillo.
Source: elfinanciero
