Mexico president says Peru's Castillo was going to request asylum

VII Ministerial Summit on Government and Digital Transformation of the Americas, in Lima
Peru's President Pedro Castillo addresses the audience during the opening of the VII Ministerial Summit on Government and Digital Transformation of the Americas, in Lima, Peru November 10, 2022. REUTERS/Sebastian Castaneda

MEXICO CITY, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Thursday that Peru's ex-president Pedro Castillo called him on Wednesday to say he was going to the Mexican embassy in Peru's capital Lima to request asylum.

Castillo never made it to the embassy, however, Lopez Obrador said. Peru's lawmakers ousted Castillo from power on Wednesday shortly after he tried to dissolve Congress and the former president was detained and accused of crimes of rebellion and conspiracy for breaking the constitutional order.

"He told me he was on his way to the embassy, but surely they had already tapped his phone," Lopez Obrador told a morning news conference, adding he had told Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard to open the embassy's doors to him.

A judicial source told Reuters that Castillo is detained in a police prison in Lima where another former president, Alberto Fujimori, is also being held.

Shortly after Castillo was ousted, Lopez Obrador, in a tweet, hoped for democratic stability benefiting Peruvians, while blasting Castillo's treatment by the "political and economic elites."

Reporting by Valentine Hilaire and Sarah Morland; Editing by Anthony Esposito

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