Former President of Peru Pedro Castillo and that of Mexico Andrés Manuel López Obrador at a meeting in September 2021. Presidency of Mexico
“From this cell where I can only resist with the desire for my people’s speedy freedom, I salute you with all my might and I hope to thank you and all the Mexican people for supporting the just struggles of Peru and for your enduring support of mine Family”. This is how the letter that former Peruvian President Pedro Castillo sent from prison to Andrés Manuel López Obrador began this Monday. The lawyer for the former Andean President, Argentine Guido Leonardo Croxatto, met with the for just over an hour Mexican President to deliver a message from his client: Castillo wants López Obrador to lead regional support for his cause, “My freedom is secondary, the real freedom to support, dear brother President, is that of our people” , the manuscript says in his handwriting.
Castillo, jailed since last December 7 after a failed attempted coup, insists he is the legitimate representative of the Peruvian people and that the political crisis his country is going through is the product of racism. “I feel like continuing the struggles that the Mexican people have always given,” writes the former president. “We have a thousand-year history of brotherhood,” he adds, after paying tribute to the legacy of the Mayans and Aztecs and “their ancestors, the Incas.” “Our indigenous brothers and sisters seem to have fewer rights than other citizens. Racism goes on,” he says. On the day of his arrest, the former president announced on a nationwide television network that Congress would be dissolved by decree and the start of an emergency government, but did not receive the expected support and was arrested within hours.
The letter that the former President of Peru sent to Andrés Manuel López Obrador through his lawyer.
In the two-page letter on graph paper, Castillo introduces Croxatto as his emissary and leader of his international defense strategy. “I ask you to make the appropriate coordination with Guido, the team and the brothers of the Latin American countries involved in this just cause to support Peru,” said the former president. Castillo denounces the harassment of his family and the repression of people who have been demonstrating since he stepped down from power. “Dozens of oppressed compatriots are being shot,” he says. “There is no justice,” he concludes. “I feel like I have fewer and fewer rights. I’m not the only one.”
Croxatto met with Colombian President Gustavo Petro in Bogotá in the middle of the month. “From this cell I greet you with all the strength and hope of my people, the people of Colombia,” he wrote on the occasion. The formula used with the Mexican president is practically the same: a short message to introduce his lawyer and thank him for the support he has received over the past few months. Castillo’s wife Lilia Paredes and their children Arnold and Alondra Castillo have been in exile in Mexico City since December 21. “I met with Guido Croxatto, a lawyer for Pedro Castillo, the president, illegally removed and unjustly imprisoned, suffering from the classism and racism that unfortunately prevails in Peru,” said López Obrador in his social Networks in which he shared the letter.
“It wasn’t a coup, it was an atypical event,” Croxatto defended in an interview with EL PAÍS published on March 17, less than 48 hours after his meeting with Petro. The lawyer said he had met with López Obrador and Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard. The Mexican government had several frictions with Dina Boluarte’s internship, who accused the North American country of interfering in internal affairs and that it was the sole responsibility of Peruvians.
Andrés Manuel López Obrador (i), during the meeting with Pedro Castillo’s Argentine lawyer, Guido Croxatto, this Monday in Mexico City Presidency of Mexico (EFE / Presidency of Mexico)
Ambassador to Lima Pablo Monroy was made persona non grata and forced to return to the country on December 23 after it was revealed which Mexican diplomats had met Castillo in prison and amid rising tensions that threatened to rupture relations. In February, Boluarte withdrew his ambassador to Mexico, leaving standing orders, a sign of attrition between the two countries. “A huge hug, my fellow President. Peru will never forget that Mexico was the first country to support us from day one,” says Castillo before saying goodbye and signing as President.
“Pedro Castillo was supposed to be here, he was hit,” Petro said last week during the Ibero-American Summit in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. “If Pedro Castillo isn’t here, it’s because he carried out a coup,” countered Peru’s Foreign Minister Ana Cecilia Gervasi. This month, the Peruvian justice system ordered precautionary measures against Castillo: 36 months in prison for leading a criminal organization and 18 months behind bars for the crime of rebellion. Peru’s political instability has resulted in six different presidents since 2018.
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