Montevideo, Dec 3 (EFE).- Uruguay on Monday rejected the asylum request made by Alan Garcia, who served as Peru’s president from 1985 to 1990 and 2006 to 2011, President Tabare Vazquez said.
Garcia had been staying at the Uruguayan Embassy in Lima since Sept. 17 under provisional protection granted while his case was considered.
Vazquez said the decision made by him and Foreign Minister Rodolfo Nin Novoa was based on “strictly legal considerations” and the nearly 1,000-page report submitted by the Peruvian government.
Garcia is under investigation for alleged collusion and money laundering linked to bribes paid by Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht for Lima’s Metro Line 1.
The former president, who has been living in Madrid since 2016, was banned by a judge on Saturday from leaving Peru for 18 months while the investigations continue.
Garcia initially accepted the order, but he asked for asylum in Uruguay a few hours later, arguing that he was the target of political persecution.
The former president left the Uruguayan ambassador’s residence in Lima on Monday following the decision by Montevideo to deny his asylum request and his whereabouts is unknown, Peruvian Foreign Minister Nestor Popolizio said.