Alan Garcia, a former president of Peru embroiled in a corruption scandal, left the embassy of Uruguay in Lima on Monday after his request for political asylum was rejected, officials said.
"To put it simply, we have not granted the request for asylum," Uruguay's President Tabare Vazquez told a press conference in Montevideo.
Vazquez said his government took the decision after reviewing Garcia's request and documentation submitted by the Peruvian government.
Peru's Foreign Minister Nestor Popolizio said that he had been informed by the Uruguayan ambassador that Garcia had left the embassy.
Media wait outside former Peruvian President Alan Garcia's home after Uruguay rejected a request for Garcia's asylum, in Lima, December 3, 2018. /VCG Photo
The 69-year-old Garcia took refuge in the Uruguayan embassy on November 17 after a Peruvian court investigating bribes allegedly paid by Brazilian contractor Odebrecht barred the former president from leaving the country.
Garcia, a social democrat who served two separate terms as president, maintained he was the target of political persecution, a charge denied by Peru's President Martin Vizcarra.
"In Peru, nobody has a crown. Our democracy guarantees the independence of powers and due process," said Vizcarra on Twitter.
Garcia had returned to Peru in November to testify in the Odebrecht case when the court issued an order barring him from leaving the country for 18 months.
A protester against former President Alan Garcia holding a sign reads: "Uruguay not to the asylum of Garcia" gathers outside the residence of the Uruguayan ambassador to Peru, in Lima, November 18, 2018. /VCG Photo
"In Peru, the three powers of state operate autonomously and it is the judicial branch that is carrying out the investigations of possible economic crimes," the Uruguayan president said at a joint press conference with Foreign Minister Rodolfo Nin Novoa.
"For strictly legal considerations, we are not granting political asylum to Mr. Alan Garcia," Vazquez said.
The Odebrecht payments were allegedly made during Garcia's second term in office, from 2006-2011, to secure a contract to build the Lima metro. He had previously been president from 1985-1990.
Odebrecht has admitted to paying 29 million U.S. dollars in bribes to Peruvian officials over three administrations.
Demonstrators protest against former President Alan Garcia near the residence of the Uruguayan ambassador to Peru, where the former president is seeking asylum, in Lima, November 20, 2018. /VCG Photo
The Peruvian press also has reported that Garcia received a 100,000-U.S.-dollar payment from an illicit Odebrecht fund for giving a speech to Brazilian business leaders in Sao Paulo in May 2012.
Last week, while Garcia was in the Uruguayan embassy, Peruvian prosecutors opened a new investigation into irregularities in another public contract.
Prosecutors allege that Garcia and 21 other officials conspired to enable Dutch company ATM Terminals to win a 2011 concession to operate a terminal at the port of Callao, near Lima.