Sao Paulo (AP) – The former first lady of Peru Nadine Heredia and her youngest son arrived in Brazil on Wednesday after the neighboring country granted his asylum, his lawyer and foreign ministries in the two countries.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil said in a statement that the flight of Heredia had arrived in the capital, Brasilia under the terms of a diplomatic asylum convention of which Peru and Brazil are both part. Heredia and her son will now go through procedures to regularize their migration to Brazil, he said.
Earlier, Heredia lawyer Julio Espinoza told the Peruvian RPP radio that she left early Wednesday on an official plane provided by the Brazilian government.
Tuesday, a Peruvian court Condemned Heredia and her husband, former president Ollanta HumalaUp to 15 years in prison for laundering funds received from the Brazilian Giant of Odebrecht construction to finance its 2006 and 2011 campaigns.
Humala, who attended the judicial session, was immediately imprisoned, while Heredia, 48, took refuge in the Brazilian embassy with their son, Samin Humala, 14.
Tuesday evening, the Foreign Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that Brazil had granted diplomatic asylum to the former first lady and his son under a 1954 agreement to which the two countries are signatories. The ministry said the Peruvian authorities have given them a safe visit to Brazil.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Peru did not immediately respond to a request for comments from the Associated Press.
The brother of former First Lady Heredia, Ilán Heredia, was also sentenced to 12 years in prison for money laundering in the same case.
The judges of the National Superior Court of Peru concluded that Humala and Heredia had received nearly $ 3 million in illegal contributions for the political campaigns of Odebrecht and the government of the President of Venezuéli, Hugo Chávez (1999-2013).
Humala, a 62 -year -old retired military officer, came to power in 2011 after defeating right politician Keiko Fujimori in the second round.
The trial began in 2022, and alongside Humala and his 48 -year -old wife, the court sentenced eight others. Humala and Heredia were detained in pre -trial detention from 2017 to 2018 at the request of the prosecutor to prevent their flight.
The admission in 2016 of Odebrecht in 2016 of generalized corruption through Latin America preceded the initial surveys against Humala, which began in 2015, a year before the company’s revelations.
Most of the presidents who have been governing Peru since 2001 have been faced with legal problems because of their links with Odebrecht. Toledo is currently imprisoned, while former President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski is under house arrest. Alan García, who served two non-consecutive conditions (1985-1990 and 2006-2011), Died by suicide in 2019 While the authorities stopped to arrest him as part of Odebrecht.
Beyond the former presidents, eminent personalities such as the former presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori and many former governors are also the subject of an investigation.
____
The journalist AP Franklin Briceño reported to Lima. The journalist AD Mauricio Savarese contributed to this report by Sao Paulo.
____
Follow the AP cover of Latin America and the Caribbean to https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
