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President Boluarte announced the “definitive withdrawal” of the Peruvian ambassador to Mexico, alleging that his Mexican counterpart “violates the principle of non-interference in internal affairs” by supporting the ousted and imprisoned former President Castillo. This decision further escalates the diatribe between the two governments since Boluarte took power.
The Peruvian president made the announcement in a televised message to the country the same day that López Obrador described Boluarte as “spurious” and reiterated that “Mexico is going to continue supporting 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.
López Obrador declared this Friday to the press that both President Boluarte and Congress have a disapproval rate of between 85% and 90% in polls, “and even so, they rule with bayonets and with repression, with force, there are already more than 60 murdered”.
The retirement of Lima’s ambassador in Mexico City, Manuel Talavera Espinar, means that “diplomatic relations between Peru and Mexico are formally at the level of charge d’affaires,” said the Peruvian president.
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”, which he said generated the “unanimous rejection of the institutions that make up the democratic order in Peru”. and motivated the constitutional removal of Castillo by the Peruvian Congress.
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 latest episode of tensions between the two countries 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.
