The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Peru, Hugo de Zela, expressed that the transitional government of Peru will take a few days to analyze “in depth” the Caracas Convention that regulates political asylum to decide whether to grant safe passage to Betssy Chávez, former prime minister of former president Pedro Castillo, whom the Government of Mexico has granted asylum in its embassy in Lima.
“The problem of asylum and the problem of safe passage are complex legal problems that require a very in-depth analysis, that’s what we are in,” said De Zela in an interview published this Wednesday about the case of Chávez, on trial alongside Castillo for rebellion and conspiracy due to the failed coup attempt that the former president tried to carry out in 2022.
The chancellor specified that he asked the legal area of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to carry out “an in-depth analysis of the Caracas Convention (signed in 1954 by the member states of the Organization of American States), not taking a single article, but analyzing, as should be done, the Convention as a whole.”
“We are going to wait a few days to receive that report and then I will tell you what the results are,” said the head of Peruvian diplomacy, since the Convention allows the asylum state to decide if the applicant is a victim of political persecution, but also establishes that it does not apply to common crimes.
Likewise, the interim president of Peru, José Jerí, told CNN in brief statements that the Executive continues to evaluate granting safe passage and estimated that this Friday the Andean country’s final position on this issue will probably be known.
The Government of President Claudia Sheinbaum announced on Monday that Betssy Chávez was in its embassy in Lima and that it had granted her political asylum from the trial for the frustrated coup d’état, with requests for sentences by the Prosecutor’s Office of 34 years in prison for the former president and 25 years for the former prime minister.
This led the Peruvian Government to announce on Monday that it was breaking diplomatic relations with Mexico, which had already been operating without ambassadors since the beginning of 2023 as Mexico did not recognize the legitimacy of the Government of President Dina Boluarte, who replaced Castillo after his arrest and dismissal.
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The Peruvian Executive defends that the former prime minister is being tried for allegedly having committed a crime, not for her ideas.
“Mrs. Betssy Chávez is not being prosecuted for her ideas. She is being prosecuted because there is a presumption that she committed a crime. It is totally different,” declared De Zela.
Criticism of the Government of Mexico for Chávez’s asylum continues
The chancellor also reiterated his criticism of the Government of Mexico, whom he points out for having taken “an ideological position on what is happening in Peru” and this has been the root of the diplomatic problem.
“The Government of Mexico intends to tell Peru what we have to do and that is absolutely unacceptable. That is interference in internal affairs,” he indicated.
He also once again ruled out that the Andean country is going to carry out any police or military operation in the Mexican Embassy itself, where Chávez has remained since Monday, which settled any rumors about a similar police assault that the president of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, ordered last year to the Mexican diplomatic headquarters in Quito to arrest former Correísta vice president Jorge Glas.
“Peru is a country that respects international law. We are not going to forcefully enter the Mexican embassy. That is simply not going to happen,” said De Zela.
With information from EFE
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