Mexico's top diplomat affirmed that they are currently negotiating the safe-conduct with which they could leave Peru. | Photo: AMLO

Mexico City, December 20 (RHC)-- Mexico's Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Marcelo Ebrard, announced Tuesday that his government has granted political asylum to the family of the ousted president of Peru, Pedro Castillo, while noting that it is a sovereign decision of the country.

The Mexican foreign minister affirmed during the morning conference of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador that "asylum has already been granted because they are in Mexican territory."   Ebrard said: "That is to say, they are in our Embassy, and when they are in the Embassy, they are granted asylum.  It is an independent sovereign decision of Mexico."  At the same time, Mexico's top diplomat pointed out that they are currently negotiating the safe-conduct with which they could leave Peru and remain in Mexico.  

Previously, the Mexican president expressed the day before in favor of holding early elections in Peru in order to reach a solution to the crisis faced by the country, which has left more than twenty people dead.

Accordingly, López Obrador assured that "we have the doors open for the president of Peru Pedro Castillo, for his family, for all those who feel harassed, persecuted in Peru because it is our foreign policy tradition."   As a result, asylum was granted to the wife of the deposed head of state, Lilia Paredes, as well as to their two children, while Castillo remains in detention after having been sentenced to 18 months of preventive imprisonment.