Interests of the economic and political elites made Castillo fall: AMLO

Emir Olivares and Nestor Jimenez

Newspaper La Jornada
Thursday December 8, 2022, p. 5

Faced with the political crisis unleashed in Peru, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador questioned whether interests of economic and political elitesthe president Pedro Castillo has been forced to make decisions that served his adversaries to consummate his dismissal.

Even though it recognized that non-intervention in the affairs of other nations is a fundamental principle of our country’s foreign policy, the Mexican Executive denounced a hostile and confrontational atmosphere against the deposed Peruvian president.

Sui generis precept

After learning about the situation in the Andean country, López Obrador – who hours before had confirmed his presence at the meeting of the Pacific Alliance, which would take place on December 14 in Lima – published his position on Twitter: “It is a fundamental principle of our foreign policy is non-intervention and the self-determination of the peoples. That is what we stick to in the case of what happened in Peru. However, we consider it unfortunate that, due to the interests of the economic and political elites, from the beginning of Pedro Castillo’s legitimate presidency, an environment of confrontation and hostility against him has been maintained, leading him to make decisions that have served his adversaries to consummate his dismissal with the sui generis precept of ‘moral incapacity’.

Hopefully human rights are respected and there is democratic stability for the benefit of the peoplewrote.

Consistently, the Mexican president has expressed his support for the Peruvian at the insistence of Congress to remove him.

López Obrador even suspended the summit of the Pacific Alliance – in which Mexico, Chile, Colombia and Peru participate – that was intended to be held in our country at the end of November because the Peruvian Legislature denied Castillo international access.

In the morning, in his conference at the National Palace, the man from Tabasco had confirmed not only his presence in Lima next week, but also that of his colleagues from Colombia and Chile, Gustavo Petro and Gabriel Boric, as well as the heads of state of the invited countries: Guillermo Lasso, from Ecuador; Xiomara Castro, from Honduras, and Rodrigo Chaves, from Costa Rica.

The president pointed out that some agreements have already been advanced, so the meeting would basically take place for Mexico to hand over the presidency pro tempore of the alliance to Peru.