Mexico has expressed regret over Peru’s decision to sever diplomatic relations after the Mexican government granted asylum to former Peruvian Prime Minister Betssy Chavez.

President Claudia Sheinbaum confirmed on Tuesday (4 November) that Chavez remains inside Mexico’s embassy in Lima after formally seeking asylum.

“This minister was imprisoned, she was released, and decided to seek asylum in Mexico. Here in Mexico, her request was evaluated as all such requests are evaluated, and she entered the Mexican Embassy in Peru, where she remains to this day,” Sheinbaum said during her daily press briefing.

Peru’s government announced the diplomatic break after Mexico granted asylum and requested safe passage for Chavez to leave the country. The former prime minister faces criminal charges over her alleged involvement in former President Pedro Castillo’s attempt to dissolve Congress in December 2022. Prosecutors are seeking a 25-year prison term.

Mexico’s Undersecretary for North America, Roberto Velasco, said the decision followed the country’s “long tradition of diplomatic and political asylum,” adding that it was made “in strict compliance with international law.”

Former Mexican ambassador to Peru, Pablo Monroy, said Mexico “regrets and rejects such an extreme measure as breaking off relations, which only harms people.”

Despite the diplomatic rupture, Sheinbaum emphasised that trade and other bilateral relations between the two nations remain intact.

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