February 26, 2023
On Friday, February 24, the de facto president of Peru, Dina Boluarte, announced her decision to withdraw the ambassador of Peru to Mexico and to instead issue a chargé d’affaires, demoting the two countries’ bilateral relations. She accused the president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, of “privileging his ideological affinity over diplomatic relationship.”
Boluarte stated in an official message on Friday, “I have ordered the definitive withdrawal of our ambassador to Mexico, and thus the diplomatic relations between Peru and Mexico will formally be assigned to our chargé d’affaires.”
Boluarte accused López Obrador of supporting deposed President Pedro Castillo’s coup attempt against the Peruvian Congress and has privileged his ideological affinities over 200 years of bilateral relations between Peru and Mexico.
“I strongly reject the statements made today by the president of Mexico regarding Peru’s internal affairs and the unacceptable questions that he repeatedly raises on the constitutional and democratic origin of my government,” Boluarte said in her message. “Mr. López has decided to support the coup d’état that former president Pedro Castillo tried to carry out on December 7, 2022.”
“The coup was unanimously condemned by the institutions of Peru’s democratic order and led to the decision of the Congress of the Republic to remove him from office with a vote of 101 of its 130 parliamentarians, making use of a power recognized by the constitution of the nation,” Boluarte added.
She also blamed the Mexican president for violating the principle of international law of non-interference in the internal affairs of States.
Boluarte said that López Obrador’s position on the Peruvian government is affecting platforms and blocs of which both Mexico and Peru are members, such as the Pacific Alliance.
During his daily morning conference this Friday, President López Obrador said that he maintains his support for the family of Pedro Castillo, whose removal created a political crisis in Peru that continues to this day with massive mobilizations throughout the country.
Demonstrators demand Boluarte’s resignation, early elections, the dissolution of Congress, and the convening of a constituent assembly to formulate a new constitution.
“Removing him (Castillo) from his post was a great injustice because he was elected by the people, and the Peruvian conservatives, who are a minority, violated the constitution,” López Obrador said in the press conference held in the National Palace, the seat of the presidency of Mexico.
“They could not accept that a representative of the people, of the poorest, of the indigenous people won the election,” President López Obrador continued. “And unfortunately there is a lot of racism and classism and many ulterior interests in Peru, because it is a country with many natural resources, and those natural resources are coveted by big transnational companies, supported by foreign governments.
“All this leads to the removal of legal, constitutional authorities—these are media coups, technical coups that violate the constitution, the laws,” he added.
The Mexican president called Boluarte a “spurious” person, pointing out that she has only 15% approval rating from the people of Peru.
Source: Orinoco Tribune