Tensions between Mexico and Peru continue to rise. The Mexican Foreign Ministry regretted this Saturday morning the decision of the President of Peru, Dina Boluarte, to withdraw her ambassador in Mexico City. “The Government of Mexico, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, regrets the decision of the current government of the Republic of Peru to reduce the level of diplomatic relations between the two countries to that of Charge d’Affaires and to definitively withdraw Ambassador Manuel Gerardo Talavera, who was called for consultations on December 15, 2022,” the Mexican government said in a statement.
Boluarte announced on Friday night the withdrawal of his diplomat arguing that Mexico, through President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, was speaking out on internal issues, questioning the democratic origin of the Peruvian government and “supporting the coup d’etat of former President Pedro Castillo ”. Boluarte has been president of Peru since December 7, 2022, after Castillo was arrested after dissolving the Peruvian Congress by decree, in an attempted coup d’etat. Since then, Lopez Obrador has harshly criticized the new Peruvian president. This same week, she called her a “spurious president” and she refused to hand over to that country the presidency of the Pacific Alliance, an act scheduled for this year within the trade integration mechanism made up of Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru.
“Even so, they rule with bayonets and with repression, with force. More than 60 have already been assassinated and in those same polls the majority of the people of Peru are asking for elections to be called, for the people to decide,” Lopez Obrador said this week about the political situation in Peru. The expressions of the Mexican have been the reason why the Peruvian government has decided to reduce relations. “With his statements, Mr. Lopez violates the principle of international law on non-interference in internal affairs, as well as those related to the defense and promotion of democracy,” Boluarte argued when announcing that the bilateral relationship will be reduced to those in charge of business.
Peru expelled Mexican ambassador Pablo Monroy in December after he offered support to Castillo after the failed coup. Castillo tried to reach the Mexican embassy in the Peruvian capital, but was stopped when he was on his way to the embassy. Later, the Mexican government offered refuge to the family of the former Peruvian president and raised the possibility of offering political asylum to Castillo. The new Peruvian government considered that Monroy’s actions were “interference” on the part of Mexico and gave him 72 hours to leave the country.
In the last three months, relations between the two countries have deteriorated significantly. After the departure of Castillo from the Government, President Lopez Obrador expressed that the relationship was “on pause”, a term that has no basis in international law and that cannot be considered as part of Mexico’s foreign policy. Although the North American country maintains non-intervention and self-determination of peoples as diplomatic principles and opposes States ruling on the form of Government of other countries, through the so-called Estrada Doctrine, Lopez Obrador has raised the tone of your comments on the political situation in Peru.
