Peru and Mexico leave their relations in uncertainty because of Pedro Castillo

On Tuesday, December 20, the day he was expelled from Peru, the young Mexican ambassador Pablo Monroy was at the Peruvian Foreign Ministry, in downtown Lima. Monroy seemed calm, according to sources from this newspaper; He believed that he would only receive the safe-conduct that his government had requested to transfer the family of the former coup president to Mexico Pedro Castillo. And he was not wrong, but he was also notified that he had 72 hours to leave the country.

At 6:00 pm, while Monroy was surprised with the news in a room in Torre Tagle, Foreign Minister Ana Gervasi announced at the same headquarters that the Mexican diplomat was considered persona non grata due to the statements issued by the President of Mexico, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO).

For López Obrador, Castillo’s vacancy responded to “elite interests”, unaware that it was the product of the illegal closure of Congress announced by the detained ex-president today on December 7.

SIGHT: Pedro Castillo’s family is already in Mexico after receiving diplomatic asylum

AMLO also did not want to recognize Dina Boluarte as the new Peruvian president and reiterated that the “popular will” must be respected, referring to Castillo’s election.

Gervasi pointed out, along these lines, that the “repeated expressions” of López Obrador about the Peruvian political situation “constitute interference in our internal affairs.”

“The statements by the Mexican president are especially serious in circumstances in which the country is facing a situation of violence that is incompatible with the exercise of the legitimate right of every person to demonstrate peacefully,” declared the minister.

That Tuesday the 20th, Pablo Monroy returned to the Foreign Ministry building for the third time since Castillo’s self-coup, according to the sources.

Peru21 He learned that, in each of these appointments, the Peruvian authorities asked for explanations for AMLO’s behavior.

However, Monroy – who is recognized in diplomacy as a “correct person” and with solid legal training – did not have satisfactory answers.

Yesterday, at a press conference with AMLO, the ambassador revealed that Pedro Castillo’s wife, Lilia Paredes, and their two children had been sheltering in the Mexican embassy in Lima since Thursday, December 8.

“In Peru everything has a political aspect. It is important to protect these people, especially when Mexico considers the principle of the presumption of innocence sacred,” Monroy commented.

Paredes left Peru being investigated for being part of the criminal organization that, according to the Prosecutor’s Office, became entrenched in the Executive and was headed by her husband Pedro Castillo.

fight for leadership

In the Peruvian Foreign Ministry they are still trying to explain why AMLO has risked diplomatic relations between Peru and Mexico to defend a former president that not even the left recognizes as a reference or leader. However, there are some theories that go beyond ideological coincidences.

One of them is that López Obrador has established a close friendship with Castillo since he visited him in September 2021, regarding the VI Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) that was organized in Aztec territory.

That closeness was reflected three months later, when the Mexican government sent a delegation from the Ministry of the Economy to Lima, at Castillo’s request, to instruct him on how to manage the impact of inflation.

In August of this year, the then Peruvian president received Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard and a delegation of businessmen from that country interested in investing in Peru.

An additional component is that AMLO, like Castillo, came from a small town to become ruler. The Peruvian is from Chota, Cajamarca, while the former is originally from a humble village in Tepetitán, in the state of Tabasco.

Mexico’s interest in Peru in these circumstances, according to diplomatic sources, would also point to the leftist leadership that it is trying to forge against Argentina and Brazil.

Having Peru as a strategic ally would allow AMLO to enter the conversation for the political management of the region. And one of those entries would be the Pacific Alliance, in which the aforementioned countries do not participate.

Peru hoped that, in response, Mexico would withdraw the Peruvian ambassador Manuel Talavera. But López Obrador assured that he would not do it. What he did establish was a “pause” in his country’s relations with ours, without specifying what consequences this would bring.

Keep in mind

-According to Mincetur, Mexico is Peru’s third largest trading partner in Latin America, behind Brazil and Chile. Among the products that the North American country sells to ours are household appliances, automotive and agricultural goods, and minerals.

-In Peru there are more than 500 Mexicans, including tourists and residents, according to figures shared by Ambassador Pablo Monroy

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