Peru has terminated diplomatic relations with Mexico following the granting of asylum to a preceding Peruvian prime minister charged with a 2022 coup attempt.

Peruvian Foreign Minister Hugo de Zela said he was surprised and deeply regretted to hear that Betssy Chávez was being offered asylum in Mexico at the embassy in Peru.

On this unfriendly move, Zela said, “ The Peruvian government has resolved to cancel diplomatic ties with Mexico today.”

Mexico, in turn, found the unilateral decision of Peru to be excessive and disproportionate, which is why the foreign affairs ministry of Mexico rejected it.

In June 2023, Chávez was imprisoned for her supposed involvement in the plan of Peruvian President Pedro Castillo to dissolve Congress. In September, a judge released her on bail, and she had no guilty plea to the charges brought against her.

Peru also alleged that Mexico had meddled in the internal affairs of Peru on several occasions, where the incumbent and former presidents of the latter nation had intervened in the internal matters of Peru.

The fact is, they have attempted to impress the world that the authors of the coup attempt are the victims, yet Peruvians are living and wish to live under democracy, as all other nations in the world have realised, and the only and isolated one is Mexico, Zela added.

The prosecutors are requesting 25 years’ imprisonment for Chavez due to his alleged involvement in the conspiracy of Castillo to dissolve Congress.

In December 2022, Castillo was arrested on charges of rebellion, having sought to dissolve Congress and place an emergency government in its place.

Several hours later, Castillo was impeached after the attempt. He has been held in preventive custody ever since.

Prosecutors are demanding a 34-year prison sentence for Castillo, who once said he never picked up a weapon against the state because the military denied his instructions.

Peru has further increased the tensions between the two governments since Castillo was ousted, as the country decided to cut diplomatic ties with Mexico.

In 2022, Mexico was expelled by Lima after its ambassador to Mexico decided to give asylum to the wife and children of Castillo after he was arrested.

Then-president Andrés Manuel López Obrador also said he supported Castillo, and a year later, Peru also recalled its ambassador to Mexico.

Castillo was a former primary school teacher, farmer, and union activist who was labeled the first poor president in Peru.

He came into power as an outsider in government with no prior political experience, promising to change the declining economy in Peru and assist the poor.

However, the presidency of Castillo came to a notorious conclusion as his power-grabbing was declared unconstitutional, and the government officials, along with the armed forces of the country, refused to back him.

The former president, Dina Boluarte, was ousted by the congress by a massive majority last month in Peru, following mass protests of political scandals and soaring crime by her successor, former president Casillo.

Jose Jeri, the congress leader, was thereafter sworn in as an interim president.