Diplomatic relations between Peru and Mexico deteriorated to the point that they broke down in just three years, after two hundred years of communion. The leaders of both countries have publicly hurled arrows at each other, recalled – and expelled – their ambassadors, and have been absent – or uninvited – from major events such as Claudia Sheinbaum’s inauguration or the 2024 Asia Pacific (APEC) Summit in Lima. There is no postcard of cordiality between the authorities of both countries. Since last year, Peruvians have needed visas to enter Mexican territory. The same thing happened almost in reverse, but the Peruvian government decided to back down for economic reasons.
The rope has not stopped tightening since Mexico became Pedro Castillo’s great shield in the region. The country granted asylum to the former president’s wife and children after he was imprisoned for the failed coup d’état in December 2022. Mexican leaders, Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Claudia Sheinbaum, have not stopped claiming Castillo’s innocence and calling for his release, to the point of holding meetings with his lawyers. At the same time, they did not stop questioning their Peruvian colleagues, whom they ignored.
Both nations, cradles of two ancient civilizations, are involved in an ideological conflict that diplomacy has failed to calm. The Peruvian Congress declared it persona non grata to López Obrador in May 2023 and to Sheinbaum this Thursday afternoon. Diplomatic relations, which were limited to business executives, were severed this week after an explicit announcement from the Peruvian Foreign Ministry.
2012 seems far away. Mexico and Peru then promoted the creation of the Pacific Alliance together with Chile and Colombia. In 2023, the provisional presidency had to be handed over to Chile due to the repudiation of López Obrador’s Executive towards Dina Boluarte’s Government. It was thanks to that diplomatic bridge that Peru received the presidency pro tempore. It couldn’t have been done any other way.
Mexico’s long tradition of granting asylum to politically persecuted people has once again been broken. Mexico granted the benefit to Betssy Chávez, Pedro Castillo’s former prime minister, accused of planning the collapse of democracy. “The legal proceedings against her were full of irregularities,” said Pablo Monroy, director general for Latin America of the Mexican Foreign Ministry and Mexican ambassador to Lima, until his ouster in 2022.
This Thursday, while Congress declared Sheinbaum persona non gratain one of the rooms of the Judiciary, Castillo’s trial for his failed coup was entering its final phase. The Prosecutor’s Office has ratified his accusation, for which it requests 34 years in prison for the former president and 25 years for Betssy Chávez if they are convicted of rebellion. His sentence could only be reduced if the judge opted for the crime of criminal conspiracy. “We will get to 80 sessions without the prosecutor telling me where the weapons are”, quipped Pedro Castillo in the last hearing. The former president’s defense has been the same from the beginning: the crime of rebellion does not exist because it was not committed. There were no deaths and no one took up arms.
For the Mexican government, Castillo and Chávez are victims of unjust harassment and hostility towards left-wing politicians. The Peruvian government, however, believes that this is an “unacceptable interference” that merits a breakdown in relations. An unprecedented measure in Torre Tagle, headquarters of the Peruvian Foreign Ministry, which did not react like this in the 1990s when Colombia granted asylum to former president Alan García, nor when Alberto Fujimori took refuge in Japan after resigning by fax in 2000. In recent times, it did not raise its voice when former first lady Nadine Heredia took refuge in the Brazilian embassy in Lima, nor when Eliane Karp, also a former first lady, went to Israel to escape justice.
“The Peruvian president, elected by no one, intends to give lessons in democracy to Mexico,” the Mexican newspaper noted. The daysympathizer of the ruling party. And in fact José Jerí, in office for a few weeks, is an interim president who did not win at the polls. He replaced Dina Boluarte, after her vacancy, as president of the Congress. He did not win a single seat by popular vote. He entered the Chamber as a substitute.
Accused of sexual assault earlier in the year, Jerí chose to imitate Bukele’s style: he was drastic with prisoners, visiting prisons in a white shirt and patrolling Lima by helicopter. He sought to connect with the masses, bringing in popular deities such as the Lord of Miracles, dressed in a purple robe; congratulating the Universitario de Deportes, the latest Peruvian football champion, but above all recording his every step on social networks. If Dina Boluarte deleted her X account once she assumed power, Jerí uses it often, responding to her detractors, but without giving interviews. An uninterrupted show that already has one protester killed by the repression.
Taking a stand against the Mexican government for granting asylum to Chávez is in line with his actions. For internationalist Óscar Vidarte, failure to respect international commitments only contributes to chaos. “Making ourselves respected by violating international law; being firm by breaking diplomatic relations. That’s how basic some of our politicians are. And they believe that saying this means defending Mexico,” he argues.
In June 2023, Betssy Chávez was arrested during a live broadcast on TikTok. He practically led the police with his broadcast. That time she said prison carried no stigma for her, because leaders such as Nelson Mandela and José Mujica had spent time behind bars. “If you want to make me president, you already know where to send me,” he challenged his opponents. Today she is still waiting for safe passage to avoid prosecution in Peru. Meanwhile, relations between two countries, classified as brothers, continue to deteriorate. The only possibility in sight to recover: the change of command that will take place in the South American country in 2026.
