Mexico City, December 8 (RHC)-- Mexico's ambassador to Peru met with former President Pedro Castillo, impeached the day before by Congress, and confirmed the asylum request made to Mexico, Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrad said on Thursday.
"Ambassador Pablo Monroy reports to me from Lima that he was able to meet at 13:20 hours (19:20 GMT) with Pedro Castillo at the Penitentiary Center. He found him physically well and in the company of his lawyer," the diplomat posted on his Twitter account.
Castillo ratified the asylum request, "received at the Mexican Embassy early this morning (02:00 am - 08:00 GMT)," said Ebrad in the message in which he attached a photostatic copy of the request. Ebrard said that the representative of Mexican diplomacy proceeded to begin consultations with the Peruvian authorities at the request of the former president, who is detained and accused of "rebellion."
Former President Castillo announced in a televised message that he was ordering the dissolution of Congress and establishing a "government of exception." Still, members of Congress held a session scheduled on the same date and, by a clear majority, voted to end his mandate.
Castillo called the office of the Presidency of Mexico on Wednesday to request asylum; however, he was detained before arriving at the embassy, said President Andrés Manuel López Obrador on Thursday.
He informed the Mexican government "that he was going to request asylum, that if they opened the door of the embassy (...), but soon after they took the embassy with police and also with citizens. They surrounded the embassy and he could not even leave. They detained him immediately," said the head of state.
The Mexican President instructed the Foreign Minister to call the Mexican Ambassador, Pablo Monroy, so that "they would open the door of the Embassy for him, in accordance with our tradition of asylum."
He also requested that "his (Castillo's) human rights be respected, that they act with true legality, that his family is protected."
The Peruvian Judiciary issued this Thursday a seven-day preliminary detention for the crime of "rebellion" against Castillo for attempting to dissolve the Congress.
