MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Peru pulls ambassador from Mexico after AMLO's criticism

“Diplomatic relations between Peru and Mexico formally remain at the level of chargé d'affaires,” Boluarte said

Peruvian President Dina Boluarte Friday announced she was recalling Lima's ambassador from Mexico in response to her colleague Adrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) meddling in the internal affairs of her country.

Ambassador Manuel Gerardo Talavera Espinar is to leave his post after AMLO was deemed to have supported the coup d'état staged by former President Pedro Castillo Terrones, who tried to dissolve Congress and rule by decree on Dec. 7, an action for which he was impeached and placed under pre-trial detention, leading to then-Vice President Boluarte's promotion.

“I have ordered the definitive withdrawal of our ambassador to the United Mexican States and, thus, diplomatic relations between Peru and Mexico formally remain at the level of chargé d'affaires,” Boluarte said while energetically rejecting López Obrador's “unacceptable” statements questioning “the constitutional and democratic origin” of her government.

“Mr. López has decided to support the coup d'état carried out by the now former President Pedro Castillo on December 7, 2022, the same one that generated the unanimous rejection of the institutions that make up the democratic order in Peru and the decision of the Congress of the Republic to remove him from office with the vote of 101 of its 130 parliamentarians,” Boluarte said.

AMLO “has decided to seriously affect the relations of mutual respect, friendship, cooperation and will for integration that have historically united Peru and Mexico,” she went on.

“I strongly reject the expressions made today by the president of Mexico on Peru's internal affairs, and the unacceptable questionings that he repeatedly formulates on the constitutional and democratic origin of my government,” Boluarte stressed.

In Boluarte's view, López Obrador prioritized “ideological affinities to the detriment of important integration processes” such as the Pacific Alliance. “With his statements, Mr. López violates the principle of international law on non-interference in internal affairs, as well as those referring to the defense and promotion of democracy,” she added.

On Friday, the Mexican president reiterated his solidarity with Lilia Paredes, Castillo's wife, after meeting with her the day before in Mexico City, where she has been granted asylum. López Obrador insisted ”Mexico will continue to support the president (Castillo) who was unjustly and illegally removed from office and will continue to demand his release. He cannot be in jail, it is a great injustice.“

AMLO said Boluarte was a ”spurious president“ and condemned the death of about 60 people in recent protests against her government.

”I have seen polls where the spurious president has 15% acceptance, 85% disapprove of her. But even less approval has Congress, the deputies. They have 90% of rejection, 90%, and, still, they rule with bayonets, with repression, with force,“ AMLO said.

López Obrador also argued that, behind Castillo's dismissal, there was ”a lot of racism and classism“ in addition to ”many vested interests in Peru because it is a country with many natural resources and those natural resources are very much coveted by large transnational corporations, supported by foreign governments.“

On Dec. 20, Boluarte's government declared then-Mexican Ambassador Pablo Monroy ”persona non grata” and gave him 72 hours to leave the South American country.

Last month, Mexico should have handed over the pro-tempore presidency of the Pacific Alliance to Peru, but AMLO is unwilling to do it as long as Boluarte is in office.