LIMA , Peru ( CNN ) -- A Venezuelan mayor who says President Hugo Chavez is persecuting him on trumped-up corruption charges is seeking political asylum in Peru , his lawyer said Tuesday . Manuel Rosales , mayor of Maracaibo in Venezuela 's Zulia state , is seeking asylum in Peru . Manuel Rosales , a leading political opponent who lost the 2006 presidential race to Hugo Chavez , faces corruption charges in Venezuela . He was supposed to have turned himself in to authorities on Monday but failed to appear . `` According to the jurisprudential traditions of Peru and the historic traditions of asylum , Peru has to accept this petition for asylum , because it concerns a political leader , a man of great responsibility , and because Hugo Chavez has made impassioned public declarations against him in plazas and stadiums , '' attorney Javier Valle Riestra told CNN en Español . `` That makes one doubt that there could be an impartial process . '' He told reporters he expected Peru 's government would make a decision within two months . A spokesman for Rosales ' party , A New Time , predicted the mayor would not lose his impact as an opposition party leader , despite efforts by the ruling party to trim his powers . `` All the powers have been activated to castrate , to lynch politically a leader who has guided the country along the democratic path , through the electoral road , '' Timoteo Zambrano told reporters . In Venezuela , government authorities criticized Rosales ' attitude . `` Not presenting himself before a competent tribunal would be make him a fugitive from justice and , in consequence , mechanisms determined by that tribunal will be activated for his capture , '' said Tareq El Aissami , minister of interior and justice in Venezuela . `` Here , an investigation by Interpol has to be asked for , '' said Congresswoman Iris Varela , a member of Chavez 's party , the United Socialist Party of Venezuela . Zambrano promised that Rosales will respond in the next few days . Belaunde told CNN en Español that Rosales entered Peru on a tourist visa . Venezuelan officials say Rosales illegally enriched himself as governor of Zulia state from 2002 to 2004 . Rosales denies the allegation and says Chavez is out to get him for political reasons , and is persecuting him on trumped-up corruption charges . `` Since they have n't been able to take me off the political map by the electoral route , now they 're using the power they have in all the movements of the public prosecutor , '' Rosales told CNN en Español last month . One of Rosales ' lawyers noted that Chavez said publicly in October 2008 , before Rosales was charged , that he wanted the mayor in prison . Another prominent Chavez opponent was arrested this month on corruption charges . Former Venezuelan Defense Minister Raul Baduel played a key role in turning back a coup attempt against Chavez in 2002 but broke with him in November 2007 over constitutional changes Chavez was proposing . Baduel has been a strong Chavez critic since then . Baduel , who also was the president 's military general-in-chief , was arrested at gunpoint in front of his wife on April 2 , the general 's attorney said at the time . It was Baduel 's second arrest on charges that he stole $ 14 million from the armed forces . He denied the allegation and last year said the charges were politically motivated . In last month 's interview , Rosales called the charges that he had illegally accepted money `` totally false , '' and said he not only declared all of his income , but paid taxes on it . Katiuska Plaza , district attorney for Zulia state , said in a 26-count complaint last month that Rosales illegally enriched himself in 2002 and 2004 . Rosales called the district attorney 's actions `` a manipulation , '' and said the prosecutor `` is acting on Chavez 's orders . '' Journalist Andreina Flores in Caracas and Maria Elena Belaunde in Lima contributed to this story .
Venezuelan mayor Manuel Rosales seeks asylum in Peru , his lawyer said . Rosales says the charges are trumped - up , cites political opponents . He was supposed to have turned himself in Monday but failed to appear .