Peru asks for recall of Ecuadorian envoy who figured in supermarket fight

Ambassador Rodrigo Riofrio PHOTO FROM FACEBOOK.COM

LIMA, Peru—Even ambassadors, it turns out, are turf-conscious when it comes to waiting in the supermarket checkout line.

Ecuador’s envoy to Peru has admitted getting into a fight—backed up by his wife—with two women he said tried to cut in front of him in a store in Lima.

Peru on Tuesday asked Ecuador to recall Ambassador Rodrigo Riofrio over the April 21 skirmish, Peruvian Foreign Minister Rafael Roncagliolo said.

The appeal came even though the ambassador apologized Monday, although he insisted he did not start the scuffle.

Cristina Castro, one of the women who tried to cut in front of the ambassador, along with her daughter, said she backed off when he said he was there first.

But the ambassador kept at it and started insulting Peru as a country of ignorant people, doomed and “full of Indians,” Castro told DiaD television.

Castro’s daughter intervened in her defense and punches started flying, Castro said.

The ambassador broke Castro’s glasses and struck her daughter with a magazine, and the ambassador’s wife eventually jumped into the fray. Riofrio even kicked the woman and her daughter, Castro said.