Lima, Peru – November 7, 2025 – In a dramatic escalation of a brewing diplomatic crisis, Peru's Congress voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to declare Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum "persona non grata," effectively barring her from entering the country and marking the sharpest rebuke yet in a feud rooted in Mexico's decision to shelter a fugitive former Peruvian official. The 63-33 vote, with two abstentions, came just days after Peru's interim government severed full diplomatic ties with Mexico over the granting of political asylum to Betssy Chávez, the ex-prime minister accused of aiding a 2022 coup plot. This move, decried by critics as symbolic posturing but celebrated by hardliners, has plunged relations between the two Latin American powerhouses to their nadir in decades, raising alarms about regional stability and the fraying bonds of the Pacific Alliance.
The declaration against Sheinbaum, Peru's unicameral Congress argued, stems from what lawmakers described as "unacceptable interference" in Peru's sovereign affairs. Right-wing acting Congress President Fernando Rospigliosi, who spearheaded the motion, lambasted the Mexican leader during the heated plenary session for her "hostile posture" since assuming office in October 2024. "Sheinbaum has not only spoken words of interference but has acted on them by harboring a fugitive co-conspirator in our democratic institutions," Rospigliosi thundered, referencing Chávez's refuge at the Mexican embassy in Lima. The resolution accuses Sheinbaum of ignoring the constitutional ouster of leftist ex-President Pedro Castillo and propping up narratives of "political persecution" that undermine Peru's judicial processes.
This is not the first time Sheinbaum has faced such ignominy from Peruvian legislators. In September 2025, a congressional foreign relations committee preliminarily labeled her unwelcome, citing her vocal support for Castillo's release and her refusal to recognize interim leaders as legitimate—a stance that echoed her predecessor Andrés Manuel López Obrador's similar criticisms. López Obrador himself was declared persona non grata by Peru's Congress in 2023 for analogous reasons. The full body's approval this week, however, carries more weight, especially amid the fresh asylum controversy, and it underscores the ideological chasm between Peru's conservative-dominated legislature and Mexico's left-leaning Morena administration.
At the heart of the imbroglio lies the saga of Pedro Castillo, the former rural schoolteacher-turned-president whose 2021 election on a socialist platform ignited Peru's latest cycle of turmoil. Castillo's tenure was a whirlwind of instability: mired in corruption scandals, he faced six failed impeachment bids from a fractious Congress controlled by right-wing factions. On December 7, 2022, as a seventh vote loomed, Castillo stunned the nation by announcing the dissolution of Congress via a televised address, declaring a state of emergency and summoning a constituent assembly to rewrite the constitution—a maneuver decried globally as an autogolpe, or self-coup. Congress swiftly impeached him for "permanent moral incapacity," and he was arrested en route to the Mexican embassy, where he had hoped to claim asylum for himself and his family.
Castillo, now 50, languishes in preventive detention at a maximum-security prison on the outskirts of Lima, facing a potential 34-year sentence for rebellion, conspiracy, and abuse of authority. Prosecutors allege he orchestrated a plot to subvert democracy, backed by loyalists including Chávez, who served as his prime minister for a mere 11 days in late 2022—the shortest such term in Peruvian history. Chávez, 43, a communications specialist and fierce Castillo ally, was released on bail in March 2025 after months in custody but remained under investigation. Denying all charges, she has portrayed her prosecution as retaliation by an elite Congress bent on quashing leftist voices. On October 31, 2025, fearing imminent rearrest, Chávez slipped into the Mexican embassy residence in Lima's upscale San Isidro district, invoking Mexico's storied tradition of non-extradition and humanitarian refuge.
Mexico's response was swift and unequivocal. Citing the 1954 Caracas Convention on Diplomatic Asylum—a multilateral treaty both nations have ratified—the Foreign Affairs Ministry (SRE) confirmed Chávez's protected status on November 1. "This decision aligns with Mexico's principled foreign policy of sheltering those fleeing political persecution, without regard to ideological alignment," the SRE stated, emphasizing that Chávez's case met the convention's criteria for "imminent danger" from unjust prosecution. The move echoes prior Mexican interventions: in 2022, López Obrador granted asylum to Castillo's wife, Lilia Paredes, and their children, prompting Peru to expel Mexico's ambassador at the time. Sheinbaum, a protégé of López Obrador, has doubled down, framing the asylum as a moral imperative rather than meddling.
Peru's reaction was volcanic. On November 3, Foreign Minister Hugo de Zela announced the severance of diplomatic relations, calling the asylum an "unfriendly act" that compounded years of "repeated interference" by Mexican leaders. President José Jerí, a conservative technocrat who ascended to the presidency in October 2025 after Congress ousted his predecessor Dina Boluarte amid scandals over crime and corruption, echoed the outrage. Boluarte's removal—Peru's second presidential impeachment in under three years—had already plunged the nation into protests and economic jitters; Jerí's administration, fragile and coalition-dependent, seized the Mexico spat as a unifying nationalist cause. Peruvian authorities gave Mexico's chargé d'affaires a 72-hour ultimatum to depart, though consular services for citizens remain operational.
The asylum's practical hurdles persist. Mexico has formally requested a "safe-conduct" document to ferry Chávez out of Peru without arrest, but de Zela indicated on Friday that the Foreign Ministry is scrutinizing the request under international law, with a decision expected by week's end. "We will honor our obligations, but not at the expense of justice," de Zela told reporters, alluding to fears that safe passage could embolden other fugitives. Chávez's lawyer, Raúl Noblecilla, reported no contact with his client since her embassy arrival, heightening concerns for her safety amid police cordons outside the diplomatic compound.
Mexican officials fired back forcefully against the persona non grata declaration. In a late Thursday statement, the SRE dismissed it as "premised on false assertions," insisting Mexico has "never intervened in Peru's internal affairs" and that the asylum adheres strictly to treaty norms. Sheinbaum herself, speaking at a press conference in Mexico City on November 6 alongside French President Emmanuel Macron, called the measure "disproportionate" and a distraction from Peru's own democratic deficits. "We regret this escalation, but it won't deter our commitment to human rights," she said, drawing applause from Morena supporters who view Peru's actions as right-wing overreach. Social media in Mexico erupted with memes mocking the ban, while Peruvian nationalists trended #PeruSeRespeta, amplifying Rospigliosi's rhetoric.
Not all in Peru cheered the congressional vote. Socialist lawmaker Jaime Quito, a vocal minority leader, branded it "another international embarrassment," arguing it alienates a key trading partner and ignores shared indigenous roots between the nations. "We're fracturing ties with a sister republic over ideology, while our people suffer from inequality and violence," Quito lamented in a floor speech, evoking the Pacific Alliance's 2011 founding pact for free trade and mobility among Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru. Indeed, the rift threatens to upend $10 billion in annual bilateral trade—Mexico's third-largest with South America—particularly in autos, mining, and agriculture. Analysts warn of ripple effects: disrupted supply chains for Peruvian copper exports to Mexican manufacturers, stalled tourism, and weakened multilateral forums like the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC).
This clash illuminates deeper fissures in Latin America's left-right divide. Castillo's fall symbolized the backlash against "pink tide" progressivism, with Peru's Congress—elected in 2021 on anti-corruption vows but plagued by its own graft probes—positioning itself as democracy's guardian against "Bolivarian" excesses. Mexico, under Sheinbaum's pragmatic socialism, champions asylum as a bulwark against authoritarian drift, a policy tracing to Lázaro Cárdenas's 1930s exile of Spanish Republicans. Yet Peru views it as selective: Why shelter alleged coup plotters while ignoring Venezuelan or Nicaraguan dissidents? one congressman quipped during debate.
Regional mediators, including Brazil and Colombia, have urged de-escalation, but with U.S. elections looming and global attention on migration, swift reconciliation seems elusive. As Chávez awaits her fate inside the embassy—echoing Julian Assange's seven-year London siege—Peru and Mexico grapple with a question: Can Latin American solidarity survive such sovereignty standoffs?
For now, the persona non grata edict stands as a stark emblem of discord. Sheinbaum, barred from a nation where over 100,000 Mexican tourists flock annually, joked in Mexico City that she'll "send a drone with tamales instead." In Lima, protesters outside Congress waved signs reading "Asilo No Es Impunidad" (Asylum Is Not Impunity), a sentiment Rospigliosi hailed as "the people's verdict." With Jerí's government barely a month old and facing midterm pressures, this "diplomatic war," as one X user dubbed it, may yet reshape alliances from the Andes to the Sierra Madre.
