Peru’s prosecutors investigate the cause of the sudden death of former foreign minister

Peruvian prosecutors announced Monday that they are investigating the causes of the death of former foreign minister Ana Gervasi, who was found dead the day before in her apartment shortly before leaving for Geneva, where she was Peru’s permanent representative to international organizations.

In a statement, the prosecutor’s office said it was working with forensic doctors and the homicide police. Gervasi, 58, lived alone, the current Peruvian foreign minister Elmer Schialer confirmed to the press on Sunday night, adding that the official was on vacation in Lima and was due to return to Geneva on Sunday.

Gervasi’s body was transferred to the morgue in the Peruvian capital.

Hours after she failed to respond to a call from a driver hired to take her to Lima’s international airport, police entered her apartment and found her dead. The police chief of homicides, Ricardo Espinoza, said that “no violence was found.”

Gervasi became President Dina Boluarte’s first female foreign minister after assuming power in December 2022 and remained as foreign minister until 6 November 2023.

Previously, she served as Vice-Chancellor and Vice-Minister of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism. She was also Consul General of Peru in Toronto and Washington, and served as Minister Counselor of the Permanent Mission of Peru to the United Nations in New York, among others.

During his administration, there were successive social protests demanding Boluarte’s resignation, which left 50 civilians dead, including several minors.

The then chancellor assured the press that the violent acts of the demonstrations “led to the belief that they were financed by groups dedicated to illegal activities,” although she never presented evidence.

In November 2023, he resigned after Boluarte failed to meet with US President Joe Biden in Washington during the first summit of the Alliance for Economic Prosperity in the Americas (APEP).

The presidential office said in a message on its social media that it extended its condolences to Gervasi’s family upon his “sudden death.”

[Con información de AP]

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