The Peruvian government has asked Ecuador to remove its ambassador, following an altercation the foreign official had with two women in Lima’s Magdalena district.
Peru’s Foreign Relations Ministry sent a request to Ecuador’s government, asking that it “consider the removal of its ambassador to Peru,” the ministry said in a statement.
Ambassador Rodrigo Riofrio of Ecuador reportedly hit and kicked a mother and daughter at a supermarket in Magdalena on Sunday night. Riofrio allegedly lost control when he believed the two women had cut in line. The daughter had also allegedly first slapped Riofrio’s wife after she insulted the Peruvian women.
Riofrio issued a statement apologizing for the incident after the story was broadcast by local television program Dia D, but said he “doesn’t accept the versions of the incident as presented by some of the press,” according to daily El Comercio.
Peru’s Foreign Relations Ministry said that Ecuador’s deputy minister of foreign affairs, Marco Albuja, is to come to Peru to investigate the incident.
