The president of Peru, Dina Boluarte, announced on Friday the “definitive withdrawal” of the Peruvian ambassador in Mexico and diplomatic relations between the two countries will remain only at the business level, due to the statements of the Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador against the Government of Lime.
Boluarte, in a brief message to the nation, said that López Obrador has privileged his “ideological affinity” by defending the ousted former leftist Peruvian president Pedro Castillo, who tried in december dissolve Congress.
“With his statements, Mr. López violates the principle of international law on non-interference in internal affairs, as well as those referring to the defense and promotion of democracy,” he said.
The Mexican president described Boluarte once again on Friday, at a conference in Mexico, as a “spurious” ruler and reiterated his support for the expelled former president Castillo, who is serving an 18-month preventive prison while the Peruvian prosecutor’s office investigates him for alleged rebellion. .
The Peruvian president said that López Obrador “has decided to seriously affect the bicentenary relations of mutual respect” between Peru and Mexico, by prioritizing their political preferences that are affecting important integration processes such as the Pacific Alliance.
Lopez Obrador has refused to transfer to Peru the pro tempore presidency of the Pacific Alliance, a commercial and economic bloc also made up of Colombia and Chile, despite the claim of Peruvian President Boluarte. Read full story
“Taking the foregoing into account, I have ordered the definitive retirement of our ambassador in the United Mexican States and in this way diplomatic relations between Peru and Mexico are formally at the level of business managers,” Boluarte said in his televised message.
The Mexican ruler has been one of the most critical in Latin America regarding dismissal on December 7 of former Peruvian President Castillo, whose family later offered asylumcausing a diplomatic crisis that led Lima to expel the US ambassador to Peru in December.
Mexico will keep diplomats in Peru
For its part, the Mexican government will maintain its diplomatic and consular representation in Peru, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs hours later, and regretted the decision of the Andean country to withdraw its ambassador in Mexico.
“The Government of Mexico will maintain its level of diplomatic and consular representation to promote ties between our peoples,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
In the same document, the Secretariat regrets Peru’s decision to reduce diplomatic relations between the countries and advocates keeping diplomatic communication channels open.
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