Peru orders the Mexican ambassador to leave the country and declares him persona non grata

(Credit: @SRE_mx)

(CNN) --

Peru has ordered the Mexican ambassador to leave the country within 72 hours and has declared him "persona non grata," according to a statement issued Tuesday by Peru's foreign ministry.

In the statement, the Ministry said that the decision was made after the president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, made some comments about the recent political situation in Peru, "which constitute an unacceptable interference in internal affairs, in clear violation the principle of non-intervention," the statement said.

Earlier on Tuesday, Mexico's Foreign Relations Secretary Marcelo Ebrard said he had offered Castillo's family asylum, which is already at the Mexican embassy in Lima.

• The governments of Mexico, Colombia, Argentina and Bolivia support and describe Castillo as a victim. Why?

Castillo's family, specifically his wife and children, will be granted safe conduct to leave the country, Peru's Foreign Minister Ana Cecilia Gervasi Díaz said at a press conference on Tuesday.

Peru has faced nationwide protests following the arrest and removal of its former president, Pedro Castillo, after he tried to dissolve Congress and install an emergency government, a tactic lawmakers dismissed as an attempted coup.

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