LIMA: In an eventful day for Mexico's ties with Peru, Mexico announced Tuesday that it has granted asylum to the Castillo family of Peru's exiled president. A few hours later, Peru ordered the Mexican ambassador to leave Lima within 72 hours and declared him persona non grata.
Without going into more detail, Peru's foreign ministry said Castillo's wife, Lilia Paredes, was the subject of a criminal investigation in the South American nation where her husband's administration was hit with corruption charges.
Paredes was at the Mexican embassy in Lima with the couple's two children. Peru said it would allow the family to depart for Mexico, but Mexico could seek to extradite Paredes Navarro if he is ultimately charged with anything in Peru.
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Peru's Foreign Ministry announced on its social media accounts on Tuesday that Mexican Ambassador Pablo Monroe was being sacked, due to "repeated statements made by that country's highest officials about the political situation in Peru".
It appears to refer to Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who claimed Castillo's removal from office after he attempted to dissolve Peru's Congress on 7 December was unfair.
Castillo was swiftly ousted from office by Peruvian lawmakers the same day, and arrested during an investigation for allegedly attempting a power grab against the country's constitutional order.
Peruvian officials have claimed that López Obrador's remarks tantamount to interference in their domestic affairs.
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The Mexican Foreign Ministry announced that its embassy in Peru would remain open and conduct regular business, and that Ambassador Monroe was given the go-ahead to go to Mexico.
A plan to hold early elections was tentatively approved by Peru's Congress in an effort to resolve the ongoing national political crisis following Castillo's ouster.
Presidential and congressional elections, originally scheduled for April 2026, will now be held in 2024 for the proposal, which was supported by 91 of the 130 members of the legislature.
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The proposal, which would amend Peru's constitution by one article, needs to be approved by a second two-thirds majority during the following annual legislative session in order to become law.