Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador during a conference in Hermosillo this Friday Presidency of Mexico
Tensions between Andrés Manuel López Obrador and the Peruvian government continue to escalate two months after former President Pedro Castillo attempted a self-coup, this time on the principle of handing over the presidency of the Pacific Alliance. The Mexican President this Friday refused to conduct the official process after the end of his country’s mandate. “I don’t want to give up a government that I think is wrong. I don’t want to legitimize any coup,” he said at his morning press conference. Since leaving the currently imprisoned Castillo, López Obrador has engaged in a staunch diplomatic defense of the former Peruvian president, which has led to a series of clashes with the new government. Two months later, Mexico has not even recognized the new President, Dina Boluarte.
Baluarte had already foreseen López Obrador’s refusal to transfer the presidency of the Latin American multilateral organization, a process that should have taken place in January. “Because he continues to support the former President (Castillo), he does not want to give us the pro tempore presidency of the Pacific Alliance,” he announced this week. The Mexican president not only insists on criticizing the new Peruvian government, but goes a step further by announcing that he is putting the final decision in the hands of the Rio Group, one of the most important international organizations for political consultations in Latin America . “I will instruct the Secretary of State for Foreign Relations to update the Rio Group members on what we are doing.”
From the outset, the Mexican government’s defense focused on the fact that Castillo had been the victim of harassment during his tenure and that his dismissal was in the interests of the Andean country’s economic and political elites. “It was a coup by conservatism, the bosses who, like the conservatives in Mexico, are classist, racist and very corrupt,” said López Obrador, who had offered his support to the Castillo government months ago, “against conservative anger.”
The Mexican government also announced its willingness to grant asylum to the former president. Eventually it was only granted to his wife from Castillo, Lilia Paredes, and their two children. Boluarte responded and on December 20 declared Pablo Monroy, Mexico’s ambassador to Peru, persona non grata and gave him 72 hours to leave the country. The next day, Monroy arrived in Mexico hand in hand with the former First Lady. A gesture that further strained the relationship with the Boluarte government.
In late December, the Peruvian Congress approved a motion by Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, as well as his Colombian counterpart Gustavo, expressing “its rejection of the constant and unacceptable interference in Peru’s internal affairs” by Petro.
Since former President Castillo’s failed coup attempt, Peru has experienced one of the greatest political and social crises in its history. More than 50 people have died in the violent protests, 22 of them in clashes with police and armed forces. López Obrador has spoken out in this regard on several occasions and has again brought charges against the executive: “He is being strongly questioned for his behavior overall, especially because he chose repression and did not seek a way out in dialogue or with the democratic method of calling new elections as soon as possible.
Subscribe here to the EL PAÍS México newsletter and receive all the important information about current events in this country