MEXICO CITY — Mexico on Friday urged Bolivia's new conservative government to respect its right to grant asylum to nine people at its embassy in La Paz, days after complaining that Bolivian government surveillance there has grown excessive. "The right of asylum must be guaranteed," Mexico's leftist president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said when asked about the disagreement in a regular news briefing. On Thursday, Mexico said it was asking the International Court of Justice to mediate in the dispute, which has chilled relations between the two Latin American countries. Bolivia's government, headed by interim President Jeanine Añez, a former senator, took power last month when long-serving leftist president Evo Morales resigned and fled to Mexico.

Source: International New York Times December 27, 2019 14:37 UTC