AMLO denies the presidency of the Pacific Alliance to Peru for considering his government “spurious”

First modification: 02/18/2023 – 01:29

The Mexican president announced this Friday that he will not hand over the presidency of the Pacific Alliance to Peru, as officially planned.

“I am going to instruct the Ministry of Foreign Relations (SRE) to notify the members of the Rio Group what we are doing, because I do not want to hand over (the presidency) to a government that I consider spurious. Let the members of the group decide.” , said López Obrador in his daily press conference.

The Rio Group is a cooperation organization between Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela. López Obrador explained that he would let his members decide what should be done.

“If they say that we hand over the presidency, we do it. But I am going to make the consultation, I do not want to legitimize a coup, it is contrary to freedoms, human rights and it is undemocratic,” he said.

The Pacific Alliance is an organization created in 2011 and made up of Chile, Colombia, Peru and Mexico. Initially, Mexico was to hand over the presidency at the Pacific Alliance Summit scheduled for November. However, the event was suspended so the Peruvian Congress did not allow then-president Pedro Castillo to leave the country.

Last Wednesday, Peruvian President Dina Boluarte warned that the Mexican president did not want to hand over the presidency to her because she “continues to support former president” Pedro Castillo.

“In January of this year, Peru should have assumed the presidency pro tempore. However, due to this political situation of the president of Mexico, until now he is harming the peoples that comprise the Pacific Alliance because (…) he does not want us hand over the pro tempore presidency of the Pacific Alliance,” said Boluarte.

Dina Boluarte took office on December 7 after the failed self-coup attempt by Pedro Castillo, who was dismissed by Congress and imprisoned. Since then, demonstrations by the population against the new head of state, repressed by the security forces, have left more than 50 dead.

“They put him in jail, there are no legal grounds, and what is in the background is a classist, racist attitude. Since he is a humble teacher from the mountains, he was harassed by Congress from the beginning,” said this Friday the Mexican president.

Opposition denounces the decision

The Mexican opposition criticized the president’s announcement on Friday. The opposition National Action Party (PAN) indicated in a statement that López Obrador’s decision is “marked by his ideology on international issues” and seeks to support “his authoritarian friends in the region.”

“López Obrador cannot make a unilateral decision regarding the transfer of the pro tempore Presidency of the Pacific Alliance to Peru,” the party defended.

He also recalled that the objective of the Alliance “is that of economic integration, political articulation and cooperation” and that it is the agreement that details the terms and conditions according to which the Mexican president should hand over the presidency to Boluarte.

Since the arrival of the president to power, relations between Lima and Mexico have become tense. López Obrador accused Peru’s political elites of having organized a coup against Castillo and granted asylum to the former president’s wife and his children.

For his part, Boluarte declared Pablo Monroy, the Mexican ambassador in Peru, persona non grata, who had to leave the country.

Finally, at the end of December, the Peruvian Congress approved a motion for “his rejection of the constant and unacceptable acts of interference in the internal affairs of Peru” by the Mexican president.

This Friday, the Peruvian Congress approved a constitutional complaint against Pedro Castillo for alleged corruption, which allows Attorney General Patricia Benavides to formally accuse Castillo before the Peruvian courts. Accusations that Castillo’s lawyer denied.

With EFE and Reuters