Peru accuses Colombia of downplaying ex-President Pedro Castillo’s recent coup attempt that led to his impeachment.
Peru has announced a “final recall” of its ambassador to Colombia, accusing its neighbor, as it did with Mexico last month, of downplaying former President Pedro Castillo’s recent coup attempt that led to his removal and arrest.
Peru’s foreign ministry said on Wednesday the move followed “repeated interference and insults” by leftist Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who “distorted reality by ignoring that on December 7, 2022, a coup d’état took place in Peru perpetrated by former President Pedro Castillo”.
At last week’s Ibero-American summit in the Dominican Republic, Petro complained that Castillo was not attending, saying he “should be here, (but) is in jail… They took him out with a coup.”
Peru’s foreign minister, Ana Cecilia Gervasi, responded at the summit, explaining that “if Pedro Castillo isn’t here, it’s because he staged a coup”.
With Wednesday’s announcement, diplomatic relations between the two South American countries are now formally at the level of chargé d’affaires, the State Department said.
Petro’s “continued disruptive expressions have seriously deteriorated the historic relationship of friendship, cooperation and mutual respect between Peru and Colombia,” the statement said.
Castillo, 53, has been behind bars since December 7 when he was arrested after attempting to dissolve parliament and rule by decree.
The leftist leader had tried to fend off a third vote in Congress to impeach him for alleged corruption.
His removal sparked massive nationwide protests that have left at least 54 people dead and about 600 injured in clashes between protesters and security forces.
Protesters have demanded the resignation of Castillo’s successor, his former vice president Dina Boluarte.
They also want immediate elections, a new constitution and the dissolution of parliament.
Boluarte first recalled Peru’s ambassador to Colombia for consultations in December, while the Peruvian Congress declared Petro persona non grata in February.
On February 25, she also announced the final recall of the Peruvian ambassador to Mexico, alleging that Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador had also violated the principle of non-interference in internal affairs.
Lopez Obrador has repeatedly called Castillo’s removal “illegal”.
The diplomatic dispute has frozen the operations of the Pacific Alliance — a trade group made up of Chile, Peru, Colombia and Mexico — as Lopez Obrador refuses to hand over the rotating presidency to Boluarte.