The president of Uruguay, Tabaré Vásquez, announced on Monday that he will not grant political asylum to Peruvian President Alan García, who had made the request on November 17, when a judge prohibited him from leaving the country, and took refuge in the embassy. Uruguayan in Lima alleging a supposed "political persecution".
"In Peru, the three powers of the State operate autonomously and freely, especially the Judicial Power that is carrying out the investigations of possible economic crimes [of García], because of these strictly legal and legal considerations, we do not grant political asylum," he declared. Vásquez at a press conference, along with Uruguayan Foreign Minister Rodolfo Nin Novoa.
García is being investigated for allegedly receiving bribes from the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht, which was favored in the award of the contract for the construction of the first subway line in Lima, during the second term of the former president (2006-2011).
Peruvian Foreign Minister Néstor Popolizio affirmed that the information was provided by the authorities of that country and that the exmandatario has already left the residence of the Uruguayan ambassador in Lima.
"They had made a legal assessment of all aspects and where they came to the conclusion that there is no political persecution" in Peru, Popolizio told a local radio station.
Garcia's nightmare began on November 15, when a judge issued an order that prohibited the former president from leaving Peru for 18 months (García resides in Spain) while the investigations against him are proceeding against him for corruption.
When he was cornered, the politician denounced an alleged "political persecution" against him and took refuge in the Uruguayan embassy in Lima, where he made an asylum request.
The politician wrote in his social networks: "We are flattened so that nobody thinks we hide something. And for me it is not a sanction to be 18 months in my country. "
Peruvian President Martín Vizcarra denied that the investigation against García was about political persecution, and promised to send the documents of the judicial process to his Uruguayan counterpart.
On December 3, the president of Uruguay declared that they reviewed the documentation provided by Lima and the applicant, and "in a few words, we have not granted the asylum request."
In short, we have not granted the asylum request
what he is acussed?
The Brazilian construction company Odebrecht acknowledged that it paid millions in bribes to win a contract for the construction of the metro in Lima during Garcia's second term (2006-2011).
According to the prosecutor in charge of the case, José Domingo Pérez, in 2009 the former president summoned the Council of Ministers to execute several emergency decrees to modify the legal framework of the project and favor Odebrecht to carry out the works of line 1 of the subway.
In July 2011, García inaugurated the first section of the Lima subway. The Peruvian comptroller detected a damage of $ 111 million dollars in the work.
Investigations into the case have led some senior officials linked to the project to preventive detention, including a former deputy minister, who received payments from the construction company in tax havens.
The Prosecutor's Office also revealed that the Brazilian company had consigned $ 100,000 to Alan García's bank account as payment for a conference in 2012 in Sao Paulo, Brazil, which came out of box 2 of Odebrecht's structured operations division.
The report also recalls that Alan García reported to the Prosecutor's Office in 2013 that between August 2011 and December 2012, he issued 18 conferences for which he received US $ 830,000.