By Adalberto Santana on December 21, 2022
image: Multipolarista
It is evident that there is a marked deterioration in the relations of the Peruvian de facto government with the governments and peoples of Mexico, Colombia, Bolivia, Honduras, Chile, Argentina and several of the Latin American and Caribbean region that have condemned the coup d’état of December 7, 2022, against the democratically elected president, Pedro Castillo Terrones. This situation has been escalating as Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, initially condemned the coup government of Mrs. Dina Boluarte by pointing out: “because this is being applied in different parts. They are soft coups, it is no longer military intervention, it is already going with the control of the information media, which are managed by the oligarchs of the countries, undermining legally and legitimately constituted authorities; even more, if they are people who come from the people or who want to do something for the benefit of the people and do not belong to the elites. Then, they implement smear campaigns, magnifying mistakes that are made. And the media continues to be an instrument to manipulate and justify acts contrary to democracy. This happened in Brazil, it just happened in Argentina, now it is Peru” (La Jornada, 09/12/22).
Peruvian de facto government attacks our America
This whole situation was also evident in the position of the governments that make up the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America – Peoples’ Trade Agreement (ALBA-TCP). In that last regional conclave, during its summit held in mid-December 2022, in Havana, it was stated: “We express our solidarity with the brotherly Peruvian people, who have been affected by a serious and prolonged institutional crisis, which has generated a series of events that threaten the stability and welfare of the majorities”. Adding: “We reject the political framework created by the right-wing forces of that country against the constitutional president Pedro Castillo, forcing him to take measures that were later taken advantage of by his adversaries in parliament to remove him from office” (Los Angeles Times 12/14/22).
A similar position was expressed by Colombian President Gustavo Preto when he condemned that: “The crisis in Peru, the imprisonment, without a judge and without defense, of a popularly elected president, has seriously questioned the role of the American Convention in the Latin American legal system” (El Espectador, 12/19/22). The most recent hostile episode of Dina Boluarte’s administration was generated with the Peruvian government’s declaration of declaring the Mexican ambassador in that South American nation, Pablo Monroy Conesa, persona non grata. The Mexican Foreign Ministry took note of the hostile declaration of that coup government by instructing the Mexican diplomat to return to national territory with the “purpose of safeguarding his security and physical integrity”. Even in communiqué No. 508 of December 20, 2022, the note issued by the Mexican Foreign Ministry stated that “Mexico firmly believes in dialogue and will continue to maintain open channels of communication with all interlocutors, especially to attend to the needs of Mexicans living in Peru”. In this regard, the Mexican President stated: “We have a very good ambassador in Peru, who has been resolving without our support, the support of the Air Force, the transfer of Mexicans who are or were in Peru. This ambassador has been moving. For example, the soccer team that was there has already arrived and is using the commercial lines and it has not been necessary to send the (military) plane that is prepared for that purpose” (La Jornada, 20/12/2022). This situation developed as a reaction to the fact that the family of President Castillo Terrones took refuge in the Mexican Embassy and thus managed to be transferred to Mexican territory for protection in the early morning of December 21. Several Peruvian parliamentarians have condemned this political persecution by Dina Boluarte and her allies, as well as other parliamentarians of the Peruvian right wing who have accused the Mexican government of interventionism and have even expressed their condemnation of giving asylum in Mexico to “corrupt” relatives of President Castillo Terrones.
Let us recall that in various parts of Peru, as a result of the soft coup and more than 25 deaths as a result of the repression by the Peruvian armed forces, various mobilizations have taken place demanding the release of President Castillo; the resignation of Dina Boluarte as de facto president; the dissolution of Congress and new general elections in the South American country, among other demands of a broad citizens’ movement. It can be considered that just as the coup d’état generated in Bolivia against President Evo Morales in 2019, in Peru will follow the same political dynamics of those Andean countries and peoples. That is, entering a new phase of accumulation of forces to reverse the soft coup and through the electoral process approved by Congress for April 2024, the progressive and democratic forces of the Peruvian people will return to power. This is a scenario that, if generated, will take the coup plotters of the oligarchy such as Dina Boluarte to prison, just as the former Bolivian coup president Jeanine Añez and her henchmen are suffering today.
Source: Telesur, translation, Resumen Latinoamericano – English