Peru's Foreign Minister resigns after Biden meeting fiasco

Tuesday, November 7th 2023 - 10:24 UTC

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Gervasi had been on the post since December 2022

Ana Cecilia Gervasi Monday turned in her resignation as Foreign Minister of Peru following strong criticism over a failed bilateral meeting between President Dina Boluarte and her US counterpart Joseph Biden during last week’s summit of leaders of the Americas in Washington DC.

What was expected to be a one-on-one talk went no further than a short stroll down the White House aisles.

Peruvian Prime Minister Alberto Otárola confirmed Gervasi’s resignation during a press conference at the Government Palace in Lima. “We believe that, in the next few hours, the new Minister of Foreign Affairs will be sworn in,” he said.

Gervasi had been summoned before a Congressional plenary session to account for the ”embarrassing incident“ and to clarify ”if there actually was a properly coordinated and scheduled bilateral meeting.“

Lima’s El Comercio said ”Gervasi decided to step aside, in order not to weaken the government“ of Boluarte after saying that all the information transmitted to the Parliament was ”truthful and based on the agreements reached with US authorities.“

Peru’s Congress needs to approve each presidential trip abroad and this time around it had been done on the belief that Boluarte was going to have a personal meeting with Biden. In that scenario, Gervasi’s resignation was “the least that had to be done,” according to rightwing Congressman Alejandro Cavero.

”It is not true that there was a bilateral meeting (...) untruthful information was provided to Congress to force a travel authorization that otherwise obviously would not have happened,” said Cavero in a radio interview.

Gervasi, who had been on the post since December 2022, said that “the US State Department confirmed that the bilateral meeting was agreed” upon, and that “the format of the meeting was later determined by US authorities.”

Also resigning Monday was Peru’s Ambassador to the United States Gustavo Meza Cuadra because of his responsibility in preparing Boluarte’s visit.