MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico’s foreign ministry said on Saturday the country will maintain its diplomatic and consular representation in Peru and vowed to keep communication channels open, while regretting Peru’s decision to remove its ambassador from Mexico.
Peru’s newly installed President Dina Boluarte announced on Friday the withdrawal of the country’s ambassador in Mexico, Manuel Gerardo Talavera, in response to comments from her Mexican counterpart branding her government as unconstitutional.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador told a news conference on Friday that Mexico will keep supporting former President Pedro Castillo, saying he was democratically elected and illegally ousted by a deeply unpopular Congress and government that “rule with bayonets and repression, with force.”
“We consider it a great injustice to have removed him (Castillo) from office because he was elected by the people. In addition, the conservatives of Peru, which are a minority, violated the constitution,” Lopez Obrador said.
In a television address, Boluarte said the statements made on Friday by Lopez Obrador “violate the principle of international law about non-interference in internal affairs.”
Castillo is being held for 18 months in pre-trial detention after attempting to close down Congress by decree to avoid an impeachment trial.
The removal of Castillo has sparked a wave of social protests demanding the resignation of Boluarte, the dissolution of Congress, changes to the constitution and Castillo’s release.
At least 60 people have died in incidents related to protests, with many of the victims coming from the heavily indigenous southern regions of the country.
Human rights groups have accused authorities of using firearms on protesters and dropping smoke bombs from helicopters. The army accuses protesters of using weapons and homemade explosives.
A Reuters investigation found several cases of people who were shot dead in the city of Ayacucho after the military moved into the region to wrest back control.
Peru’s top prosecutor’s office last month said it had launched an inquiry into Boluarte and members of her cabinet over the protest deaths and their handling of the violence since early December.
(Reporting by Valentine Hilaire and Aida Pelaez-Fernandez; Editing by Aurora Ellis)
