MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Uruguay grants asylum to ex Peruvian president Alan Garcia

Alan Garcia on Sunday spoke on the phone from the embassy in Lima with Uruguayan president Tabare Vazquez requesting asylum

Uruguay will grant asylum to Peruvian ex-president Alan Garcia, announced the country's foreign minister Rodolfo Nin Novoa on Sunday evening when he was asked about the request. “The answer is yes”, said the minister in Montevideo.

Anyhow, although the Peruvian former president entered the Uruguayan ambassador's residence in Lima on Saturday evening, Nin Novoa said there was no timetable for a reply to the request and the Uruguayan government is waiting for Peru to send all the official information on the matter.

The Peruvian foreign ministry must supply all the necessary information so that Uruguay can assess the situation and adopt a decision following on the procedure established in “the Caracas Convention on diplomatic asylum from 1954”.

Garcia on Sunday spoke on the phone from the embassy in Lima with Uruguayan president Tabare Vazquez requesting asylum, according to an official release from the Executive. Likewise the Peruvian foreign ministry announced on Sunday that Alan Garcia went to the residence of ambassador Carlos Alejandro Barros, who then informed the ministry in Lima.

On Saturday the Peruvian judiciary ordered an 18 month restriction on Alan Garcia from abandoning the country, following on a request from the Attorney's office, which asked for more time to investigate the alleged payments done by the Brazilian public works contractor Odebrecht, and could involve the ex president.

Immediately Alan Garcia twitted: ”to all the country I tell you I have peace of mind. I never sold myself or asked for anything. I believe in history and the in the glory of Aprismo (political party) which is my only asset“.

On his side current president Martin Vizcarra stated that ”in Peru there is no political persecution and all Peruvians must abide by Justice, with no exceptions. I reaffirm my commitment with the unrestricted respect for the government branches, the Constitution and international treaties”, wrote president Vizacarra.

Alan Garcia, who was twice Peruvian president and resides in Spain, arrived last Thursday to Peru to give testimony on the construction of a metro line during his second mandate, 2006/2011.

The former president is under investigation for the metro contract since March 2017, one of four Peruvian ex presidents under investigation, and related to the handouts from Odebrecht.

Prosecution believes Garcia was paid US$ 100.000 from an Odebrecht special illicit account, for a conference to business people in Sao Paulo in May 2012.

This is not the first time Garcia requests asylum. In 1992, at night he walked into the Colombian embassy residence to request diplomatic asylum. The Colombian government replied positively to the request of Garcia who at the time was the chairman of APRA, the strongest political party in Peru.

Not much later then president Alberto Fujimori convened an emergency cabinet meeting to address the issue and allowed Garcia to fly to Colombia.