Bolivia expels Mexican, Spanish officials as diplomatic standoff heats up
President Jeanine Anez and Minister Karen Longaric
Bolivia's government expelledMexicanandSpanishdiplomats on Monday, escalating adiplomaticdispute after Mexico's embassy in La Paz granted asylum to allies ofBolivia's former socialist president Evo Morales.
Bolivian caretaker President Jeanine Anez said her administration had askedMexicanambassador María Teresa Mercado and severalSpanishofficialsto leave the country within 72 hours and called them "persona non grata".
Shortly after, Mexico's foreign ministry said it would recall Mercado to ensure her safety and brandedBolivia's move as "political in nature".
In Madrid, Spain's foreign ministry said it would expel threeBoliviandiplomaticstaff over the matter.
Bolivia's disputed October election sparked widespread protests and Morales resigned last month in the face of growing civil and military pressure. Anez took over by default and has made sharp policy shifts away from his socialist government, fraying ties with leftist allies in the region.
Morales, meanwhile, claimed he was toppled in a right-wing "coup" and many of his allies have rallied behind him with the country headed for new elections in 2020. He fled the country and was granted asylum in Mexico. He is now in Argentina.
Mexicanofficialssaid the government aims touphold ties withBoliviaand has not declared theBolivian ambassador to Mexico persona non grata.
"For now, the foreign ministry does not have the intention of breakingdiplomaticrelations withBolivia," Interior Minister Olga Sanchez told reporters. She added that tension between the two nations was nevertheless undeniable.
On Friday, Mexico's government saidBolivian authorities harassed and intimidated itsdiplomaticstaff and impeded the departure ofSpanishofficialsvisiting its embassy in the capital where a number of Morales' allies had holedup.
Anez said theBolivian government would not tolerate people "trying to coverupand protect criminals who have committed crimes of sedition, armeduprising and terrorism" and thatBoliviawould not be a "colony" of any other country.
According toBolivia's government, a former senior aide to Morales, Juan Ramon Quintana, is among nine people who have taken asylum in theMexicanembassy.
Mexico said last Thursday that it was asking the International Court of Justice to mediate the dispute.
MexicanForeign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said in a Tweet that Mercado had "fully represented Mexico and its cause in favor of asylum and peace". Mercado wrote in a post in response she was proud touphold Mexico's "principles and tradition of asylum."