The Peruvian president, Dina Boluarte, announced this Friday the “definitive withdrawal” of the Peruvian ambassador to Mexico, alleging that the Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador “violates the principle of non-interference in internal affairs” by supporting the ousted former president Pedro Castillo.
The announcement, made in a televised message to the country, occurs the same day that López Obrador described Boluarte as “spurious” and reiterated that “Mexico will continue to support the president (Castillo) unjustly and illegally removed.”
“I strongly reject the expressions formulated today by the president of Mexico regarding the internal affairs of Peru, and the unacceptable questions that he repeatedly formulates about the constitutional and democratic origin of my government,” said Boluarte, flanked by her chief of staff, Alberto Otárola. and the Peruvian Foreign Minister, Ana Cecilia Gervasi.
The measure, Boluarte said, means that “diplomatic relations between Peru and Mexico are formally at the level of charge d’affaires.”
Boluarte stated that President López Obrador “has decided to support the coup d’état carried out by the now former president Pedro Castillo on December 7, 2022”, of which he said, generated “unanimous rejection of the institutions that make up the democratic order in Peru” and motivated his constitutional removal by the Peruvian Congress.
Castillo, a schoolteacher of leftist ideology, has been detained in Peru since December 7, accused of rebellion after he tried to dissolve Congress and rule by decree.
The former Peruvian president was arrested a few minutes later by the Peruvian police in his caravan when he was going with his wife and children to the Mexican embassy in Lima.
The First Lady, Lilia Paredes, did manage to enter the diplomatic delegation of Mexico with her children, where she received political asylum.
In his televised statement, Boluarte stated that “Mr. López has decided to seriously affect the bicentennial relations of mutual respect, friendship, cooperation, and the desire for integration that have historically united Peru and Mexico, by favoring ideological affinities.”
The withdrawal of Lima’s representative in Mexico further escalates the tirade between the two governments since Boluarte took power in December, replacing Castillo, which López Obrador has repeatedly criticized.
The latest episode occurred last week, when the Peruvian president accused her Mexican counterpart of refusing to hand over the rotating presidency of the Pacific Alliance. To this, Mexico responded that it would consult with the Rio group.