From the offer of asylum to Castillo to the accusation of “interference” in internal affairs: the role of Mexico in the political crisis in Peru

(CNN Spanish) — The former president of Peru, Pedro Castillo, is detained in Lima after his attempt to close Congress and a series of events that led to his departure and for which he must answer before the courts of his country. He is now asking for asylum in Mexico, which has a long tradition in this matter throughout its history.

In recent days, Mexico has been aware of the developments in political events in Peru and both its president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO)—who has openly shown his sympathy for Castillo—and its foreign minister, Marcelo Ebrard, have expressed his support for Castillo.

After announcing his intention to close Congress and that the same Congress dismissed him on December 7, former President Castillo called the Presidency of Mexico to make a request for political asylum, López Obrador said this Thursday at his morning press conference, which added that the country began consultations with the Peruvian authorities on this request.

In the afternoon, the Foreign Minister of Mexico, Marcelo Ebrard, reported that his country’s ambassador in Peru had met with the detainee Castillo, who ratified his asylum request.

“We have proceeded to initiate consultations with the Peruvian authorities,” Ebrard wrote on his Twitter account.

López Obrador explained that, after the contact on Wednesday, he requested that the doors of the diplomatic legation be opened to Castillo.

“But soon after they took over the embassy with policemen, and also with citizens, they surrounded the embassy and he couldn’t even get out, they arrested him immediately,” he said.

AMLO’s intervention is “reckless”

AMLO has said that Mexico’s foreign policy is governed by the self-determination of the peoples and non-intervention, while in turn regretting the dismissal of Castillo.

“When I imagine he already feels that they are going to dismiss him, because he makes a decision to disappear Congress, that was what precipitated his dismissal,” AMLO told reporters on Thursday.

However, some sectors have criticized what they have described as “interference” by Mexico in matters of internal politics in Peru.

The independent senator Emilio Álvarez Icaza rejected that AMLO participated so closely in this episode, unlike other countries in the region whose foreign ministries have spoken through diplomacy.

“Why don’t you resort a little to the prudence that they had, for example, in Chile or Colombia, even Lula (Da Silva) himself,” said Álvarez Icaza in CNN’s Conclusions.

“In Chile and Colombia, the foreign ministries demonstrated. Neither (Gabriel) Boric nor (Gustavo) Petro were speaking,” said the senator.

On Thursday, some Peruvian lawmakers, including the head of the Foreign Relations Committee of Peru’s Congress, called on López Obrador to stay out of what they said were Peru’s internal affairs.

“Not only does he not agree to get involved in matters, the opposition in Peru tells him ‘don’t get involved’ and responds by generating more conflict,” said Álvarez Icaza. “Not only is it egregiously reckless, but it then creates a situation of State conflict, because the head of the Mexican State is already getting into this vein in Peru… the recklessness of López Obrador is of enormous concern” said Álvarez Icaza in CNN Conclusions.

Meanwhile, the former Mexican ambassador to Cuba, Ricardo Pascoe, said on CNN that AMLO’s attempt to help Castillo could harm the ex-president, and rejected López Obrador’s “tactic” in international politics.

“(AMLO) issues opinions, pours out lessons, moralizes and wants to intervene saying that it is not an intervention. What he has managed to do is make Mexico’s relationship with all of Latin America difficult,” Pascoe told CNN.

“It is unacceptable that Mexico’s Foreign Policy is allying with those who promote the breakdown of the constitutional order of the countries.

“This method of intervention in the countries, not by a criterion of respect for the internal procedures of the countries, but by a criterion strictly of ideological affinity on the part of Mexico, it seems to me that what it is achieving is extremely diminishing the viability and the prestige of our country in the rest of Latin America,” added the former Mexican diplomat.

The theme of the Pacific Alliance

Another issue that has been put on hold for the moment is the Pacific Alliance summit, a regional integration initiative made up of Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru—which had already been postponed due to the events in Lima.

The original dates for the summit to be held in Mexico were November 25, but given the refusal of the Peruvian Congress to deny Castillo’s departure from the country to assist Mexico to receive the protempore presidency of the organization. With that refusal, Mexico prompted the cancellation of the summit in November.

With this panorama, AMLO said that he would travel to Lima to transfer the leadership of the Pacific Alliance to Castillo, but this time with the dismissal of Castillo as president, the foreign minister of Mexico Marcelo Ebrard said this Wednesday that the summit that was to be held in Lima was postponed.

The decision did not go down very well with some analysts who believe that delaying the handing over of the protempore presidency could generate tensions among the other members of this trade integration mechanism.

“It is a very important commercial dynamic that should not be slowed down in order to promote environments of collaboration, cooperation and unlock very technical issues and mainstays of international trade,” lliana Rodríguez Santibáñez, an expert in International Relations, told CNN.

According to Pascoe, there will be an “enormously difficult period in the bilateral relationship” and more so now with the issue of the Pacific Alliance.”

“If it is for security reasons, it is correct that (López Obrador) wait. We have to see if there is no convulsion in the region, but if there are not, it seems to me that there is no reason to delay the delivery of the protempore presidency to the new President of Peru”, Dina Boluarte.

The tradition of Mexico with asylum

Mexico has a long tradition of offering political asylum at different times in history to political leaders, ranging from opponents of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco to the most recent high-profile case with former Bolivian President Evo Morales in 2019.

The country welcomed the Spaniards who escaped after the Civil War (1936-1939). It also opened the doors to Chileans who left the country after the coup that overthrew the government of President Salvador Allende in 1973.

Among the political figures that Mexico recently welcomed are the former presidents of Bolivia, Evo Morales, and Honduras, Manuel Zelaya. Although the list is longer. Also notable are the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992, Rigoberta Menchú, the Soviet ideologue León Trotsky and the Spanish filmmaker Luis Buñuel.

— With information from Jimena de la Quintana, Fernando del Rincón, Gabriela Frías from CNN and Reuters.