Peru's Congress declared Mexico's president persona non grata

The Congress of Peru voted to declare Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum persona non grata, or an undesirable person in the country. This decision was made a few days after Peru severed diplomatic relations with Mexico, writes  UNN with reference to the BBC.

Details

This came after several days of strained relations between the two countries, which began to escalate due to Mexico granting asylum to Betssy Chávez, the former Prime Minister of Peru, who is accused of involvement in an attempted coup in 2022.

Chávez, who was detained in June 2023, denies her involvement in the conspiracy. After her release on bail in September of the same year, she was granted asylum at the Mexican embassy in Lima, which caused outrage in the Peruvian government.

Mexico stated that granting asylum to Chávez was done in accordance with international law, and also rejected Peru's accusations that this step was an "unfriendly act."

However, during the vote, 63 Peruvian lawmakers supported the decision to declare the Mexican president persona non grata, and also accused her of ties to drug trafficking. However, as noted, no specific evidence was provided to support this accusation.

Recall

On Tuesday, November 3, the authorities of Peru announced the severance of diplomatic relations with Mexico due to its granting asylum to former Prime Minister Betssy Chávez.