Mexico and Peru reestablish ties after asylum spat

Mexico and Peru announced the reestablishment of diplomatic ties on Friday, following a months-long split over the asylum bid of a former Peruvian official accused of coup plotting.

The governments of leftist Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and her newly inaugurated, right-wing Peruvian counterpart Keiko Fujimori, "considering the historic bonds of brotherhood, friendship, and cooperation that unite Mexico and Peru, agreed on this date to resume diplomatic relations between the two States," they said in a joint statement.

Sheinbaum later said at her daily press conference that the former official at the center of the spat, ex-prime minister Betssy Chavez, was being flown on Friday aboard a Mexican military plane to Mexico.

Fujimori's government had granted safe passage to Chavez as a gesture of "goodwill," Sheinbaum said.

Mexico and Peru have had strained relations for years, following the ouster of leftwing Peruvian leader Pedro Castillo in December 2022.

He had been impeached and removed from office after attempting to dissolve Congress, and was arrested on his way to the Mexican embassy to seek asylum.

He and Chavez, his prime minister at the time, faced charges of plotting a coup over the Congress dissolution bid.

While Castillo has been in jail since his arrest, Chavez had been released on bail. She sought asylum in the Mexican embassy in November 2025.

The move prompted a furious reaction from the Peruvian government and kicked off a diplomatic tit-for-tat, which included Peru's Congress voting to declare Sheinbaum persona non grata.

Fujimori, who narrowly won a runoff election in June, had said she hoped to mend ties with Mexico.

She took office in late July, becoming Peru's ninth president in a decade, including a series of interim leaders following Castillo's ouster.