Peru: Fujimori government to decide on asylum for ex-PM Chávez

The incoming government of Peru's President-elect Keiko Fujimori is set to decide on a safe-conduct request for Betssy Chávez, the former Prime Minister under ex-President Pedro Castillo. Chávez has been residing in Mexico's embassy in Lima since 2025, awaiting asylum granted by the Mexican government.

Carlos Espá, Peru's future Minister of Foreign Affairs, stated that Fujimori's government will act in compliance with international treaties, specifically referencing the 1954 Caracas Convention on Diplomatic Asylum. Espá announced that a Council of Ministers meeting will be held to evaluate Chávez's request. Chávez was sentenced to eleven years and five months in prison for her involvement in Castillo's failed coup attempt in 2022.

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We are going to make a decision about it.

Espá highlighted Mexico as a "brother country" with cultural and historical similarities to Peru, expressing a desire to normalize relations between the two nations promptly. Diplomatic ties between Peru and Mexico were severed when the previous administration granted asylum to Chávez in 2025. She sought refuge at the Mexican embassy on November 2, 2025, after being released from preventive detention and weeks before her sentencing.

Meanwhile, former President Pedro Castillo is serving a similar sentence in Barbadillo prison. His family was granted asylum by Mexico and currently resides there. Castillo has made multiple requests for presidential pardon and clemency to the interim president, José María Balcázar, this year, but all were rejected by a commission within the Ministry of Justice, despite the interim president's initial inclination to grant his release.

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Mexico is a brother country and one of the nations that most resembles Peru in its culture and history, which is why we believe we must try to normalize relations as soon as possible.