Mexico City, Mexico — Mexico’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has instructed Ambassador Mercado to return to Mexico in order to protect her safety and integrity.
The return request was made by the Mexican government after Bolivian interim president, Jeanine Áñez, declared Mexican ambassador María Teresa Mercado “persona non grata”, giving her 72 hours to vacate Bolivia.
The news reached Mexico’s la Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores Monday after Jeanine Áñez said the decision was made for “damage to the sovereignty of the Bolivian State”, adding other Spanish diplomats to the list.
“The constitutional government that I preside over has decided to declare ‘unpleasant’ the people of the Mexican ambassador to Bolivia María Teresa Mercado, the charge of Business of Spain in Bolivia Cristina Borreguero the consul Álvaro Fernández and the group of alleged hooded and armed diplomats,” said Añez in a press statement.
Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador decided not to repay the president with the same currency, saying that Bolivia’s ambassador in Mexico, José Crespo, can stay in Mexico.
Despite the declaration of persona non grata to Ambassador María Teresa Mercado, the government of Mexico has no intention of breaking diplomatic relations with Bolivia, said the secretary of governance, Olga Sanchez Cordero.
The Mexican Embassy in Bolivia will be headed by Ana Luisa Vallejo, la Sección Consular de México en Perú. El Gobierno de México says Bolivian representation will continue to operate normally.
