Mexican Ambassador to Peru Pablo Monroy during a ceremony at the Foreign Ministry Headquarters in Lima, PeruPaolo Aguilar (EFE)
The Peruvian government’s dissatisfaction with Mexico escalated in recent weeks, exploding this Tuesday with the expulsion of Ambassador Pablo Monroy, who was declared persona non grata and given 72 hours to leave Peru. In the morning, Mexico’s foreign minister announced that the embassy had granted asylum to the family of Pedro Castillo, the president who was deposed and imprisoned after dissolving Congress in a failed coup attempt against himself. Mexico sovereignly made this decision while negotiating safe passages to get the Castillo family out of the country and bring them to Mexico if they so decided.
“We have a good ambassador,” President Andrés Manuel López Obrador had said hours earlier, praising the diplomatic efforts Monroy is making in recent hours to return dozens of compatriots caught up in the Peruvian crisis to where it is at least already there are 26 dead in the street protests that broke out after December 7th.
The Mexican President always remembers that respect for the sovereignty of nations has a long tradition in the North American country: “It is a fundamental principle of our foreign policy, non-interference and self-determination of the peoples,” he says. But Peruvian President Dina Boluarte doesn’t think so. Just two days after the attempted coup, the Mexican ambassador was summoned to tell him “the oddness” that the Mexican government’s speeches caused in Peru. “The statements made by the Mexican authorities constitute an interference in Peru’s internal affairs and are inconsistent with the events of the past few days,” they reported.
But the noise didn’t stop in the region, and on December 15, Peru called for consultations with the ambassadors of the four nations that supported Castillo from the start, Argentina, Colombia, Bolivia and Mexico. However, the closest ties are with the latter country.
President Castillo attempted to reach the Mexican Embassy in search of refuge after reporting in a televised address on December 7 that he had dissolved Congress, a sort of failed self-coup that did not have the usual army support, not even with his presidential cabinet, members of which distanced themselves many minutes after the now-arrested president delivered his speech. One of them was Vice President Dina Boluarte, who replaced the rural teacher in his duties, as is his duty under the Constitution.
But Castillo never made it to the Mexican embassy, being held up by his own escorts. But the Peruvian crisis soon had a contagious surge in the region’s foreign relations. Colombia, Argentina, Bolivia and Mexico have all supported President Castillo with varying degrees of zeal, asking for respect for the inauguration that proclaimed him president and expressing “their deepest concern over recent events”. They believe the teacher and former union leader “was the victim of undemocratic harassment in violation of Article 23 of the American Convention on Human Rights from the day of his election.”
Blaming interference from the aforementioned nations, Boluarte and Peru’s Foreign Minister Ana Cecilia Gervasi recalled “the bonds of friendship, cooperation and mutual respect” between the countries of the region. The President of Mexico has not kept his mouth shut. He blamed the crisis that Peru was going through “on the interests of the economic and political elites, which always maintained an environment of confrontation and hostility towards President Castillo”. And he was always at the teacher’s side, and the doors of the embassy were open to him and his family. “If he asks, we would think about it, we shouldn’t resist it, but he didn’t do it,” said Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard in the hours after the coup.
The family’s diplomatic placement, announced this morning, was the straw that broke the camel’s back for the Peruvian government. In his statement on the expulsion of Ambassador Monroy, he once again pointed to Mexico’s “interference”. Minister Gervasi cited “the repeated statements by Mexico’s highest authorities” on the political situation in Peru, which “violated the principle of non-interference,” as the reason for ordering the ambassador’s departure. In any case, the Peruvian government has granted safe passage to the woman, Lilia Paredes, and Castillo’s two children, as required by the Caracas Convention, after Mexico granted asylum to the family in its embassy. However, they recalled that Paredes is under investigation by the Peruvian prosecutor’s office for alleged corruption crimes and membership in a criminal association with her husband. Gervasi assured that they will request Paredes’ extradition if the judicial authorities so request.
The Embassy of Mexico in Peru is headed by First Secretary Karla Tatiana Ornelas Loera, currently Head of the Mission’s Registry. “Our representation will continue to operate normally after this movement. Mexico firmly believes in dialogue and will continue to keep the channels of communication open with all interlocutors, especially to meet the needs of Mexicans living in Peru,” the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported.
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