The President of Peru, Pedro Castillo, has withdrawn his request to Congress, which is in charge of approving the President’s agenda, to authorize him to travel to Thailand for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders’ summit.
Castillo’s trip to the Asian country coincided with the visit to Peru of a mission of the Organization of American States to evaluate the political situation in the Andean nation, at the request of the President himself.
«I have communicated to the Congress of the Republic my decision to desist and cancel my request for authorization to travel abroad for the 29th (APEC summit) in Thailand,» said Castillo in his Twitter profile.
According to the president, the delay of the Parliament to study his request «compromises once again the foreign policy» of the country, thus alluding to previous decisions of the Congress not to authorize other trips abroad.
For his part, the president of the Parliament, José Williams, had already expressed his opposition to allow Castillo’s trip, as he considered it essential for the head of state to be in Peru to receive an OAS mission that he himself requested, reports RPP.
«I think the president should be here at the arrival of the commission of the Permanent Council (of the OAS) since he has requested it to be so», said Williams, an argument also shared by former Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Rodriguez Mackay.
The current head of the Peruvian diplomatic portfolio, César Landa, the OAS delegation is scheduled to land in Peru on November 20 to carry out its evaluation of the political situation during the following two days.
The Peruvian Parliament has on other occasions rejected Castillo’s requests to travel abroad – as in the recent case of a tour of Europe – citing the fact that the president is under investigation by the Justice system for several cases of alleged corruption.
