Politics
08:09, 12-Aug-2017
Peru expels Venezuelan ambassador
["other","Latin America"]
Share
Copied
Peru has expelled Venezuela's ambassador to Lima, Diego Alfredo Molero Bellavia, the Peruvian Foreign Ministry said on Friday.
"After having expressed our condemnation for the breakdown of democratic order in Venezuela," the Peruvian government decided to expel the top envoy of Venezuela in Lima, the ministry said in a press release.
Molero has been given a maximum of five days to leave the country.
April 22, 2013: Then Venezuela's Minister of Defense and current Venezuelan ambassador to Peru, Diego Alfredo Molero Bellavia (C), during the ministers swearing-in ceremony in Caracas. /AFP Photo
April 22, 2013: Then Venezuela's Minister of Defense and current Venezuelan ambassador to Peru, Diego Alfredo Molero Bellavia (C), during the ministers swearing-in ceremony in Caracas. /AFP Photo
The move appears to come in the wake of a strongly-worded letter from Venezuela, protesting the so-called Lima Declaration issued earlier this week.
On Tuesday, foreign ministers and representatives from 11 Latin American countries and Canada gathered in Lima to discuss the political situation in Venezuela and issued a joint "condemnation of the breakdown of democratic order" in Venezuela.
In the declaration, they state their refusal to recognize Venezuela's newly-elected National Constituent Assembly (ANC), a temporary but powerful legislative body designed to draft a new Constitution.
The Latin American countries that signed the declaration include Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay and Peru.
16670km
Source(s): Xinhua News Agency