The judiciary has issued a five-month pretrial detention and ordered the national and international arrest of Betsy Chavez, former Prime Minister of Pedro Castillo, accused of being one of the architects of the failed self-coup of December 7, 2022. Chavez has been sheltering in the Mexican Embassy in Lima since November 2. Diplomatic asylum granted by Claudia Sheinbaum’s government led to a formal severing of relations between the two countries, leading to a 200-year period in which there were no short circuits.
The origin of the conflict goes back to the letter to the nation in which Pedro Castillo decreed the end of his term. The then President of Peru called on the country to break the constitutional order and form an exceptional government. But the armed forces turned their backs on him, and he continued to try to breathe a sigh of relief, and Congress emptied him out of moral impotence. Mexico, represented by Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador, came to their aid. He granted asylum to Castillo’s wife and children, and refused to recognize the installation of his successor, Dina Boluarte.
In these three years, the relationship between Mexico and Peru was reduced to business managers. Starting in 2024, Peruvian tourists will need to apply for a visa to enter Mexican territory. The Peruvian Congress declared López Obrador and Sheinbaum persona non grata. If that was not enough, the executive branch expelled Carla Ornelas, the head of the Mexican embassy in Lima. For twelve days, the diplomatic office, located in the residential area of San Isidro, remained without a head.
It is there, in a large space of 752 square meters, on Colonel Pedro Portillo Street, where Betsy Chavez waits for safe passage to travel to Mexico. But José Giri’s government remains steadfast in its position of delaying the delivery. He emphasizes that Chavez is not a persecuted politician, that it is her responsibility to face justice, and that she will present the matter for consultation with the member countries of the Organization of American States. “There is a need to conduct appropriate legal studies to move forward with the response,” Foreign Minister Hugo de Zella said, leaving the fate of the lawyer in limbo.
Betsy Chavez remained in prison for more than two years, but was released in early September under a ruling by the Constitutional Court, amid hunger strikes denouncing prison abuses. The 36-year-old former official – who was also the Minister of Labor and Culture – had her appearance canceled with restrictions on Friday and a new preventive detention order was issued, this time for five months. The judge invoked his decision in the absence of the person being investigated before the judicial summons and in the incident of non-compliance with marking the biometric record. It was determined that the risk of flight was “significant” and for this reason warrants were issued for his arrest both domestically and internationally.
In the past few hours, a sector of the political class has urged the government of José Giri to forcefully enter the Mexican embassy to arrest Betsy Chavez. “The government must respect the sovereignty and autonomy of our country. We must make clear to the Peruvian people: Betsy Chavez is not a person who is politically persecuted, and in this sense, the government must make decisions so that she is subject to justice. Even by force. There are precedents from other countries,” said Lady Camones, chair of the Subcommittee on Constitutional Impeachments, referring to the Ecuadorian government’s storming of the Mexican embassy in Colombia. Mexico. Quito will arrest politician Jorge Glass in April 2024.
Prime Minister Ernesto Álvarez ruled out this possibility by noting that “Peru respects international law and is incapable of exercising violence against any neighboring or sister state” and that it “will never violate international laws regarding the immunity of diplomatic premises.” Naturally, he indicated that the Executive would immediately condemn Mexico before international bodies for its interference in Peru’s internal affairs.
The Attorney General’s Office is requesting a 25-year prison sentence for Betsy Chavez for rebellion. The sentence will be reduced if he is convicted of conspiracy. At his final hearing, former President Pedro Castillo defended Chávez, claiming that he had not participated in the events and that “the responsibility (for the self-coup) was clearly his.” Meanwhile, the Congress Standing Committee agreed to bar the former prime minister from holding public office for ten years. The proposal must be approved in plenary session. Meanwhile, police security at the Mexican Embassy has been beefed up. The press is waiting for what might happen in the next few hours.
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