The president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, on Wednesday called the expulsion of the Mexican ambassador to Peru, Pablo Monroy, an «arbitrary measure», but ruled out that the Mexican authorities are planning to break off relations with the Peruvian government.
«The situation in Peru has led them to take arbitrary measures such as declaring our ambassador in Peru persona non grata (…) We care about protecting his integrity and that of his family», he said before affirming that the Foreign Ministry will not break off relations with Peru, «among other things because we need to keep our Embassy open to protect Mexicans who live, work and live in Peru».
Thus, he announced that the diplomatic legation «will continue to function» and a person in charge of the Embassy has already been appointed. «Fortunately, the largest number of Mexican tourists have already left the country and procedures are being carried out so that all Mexicans who wish to do so can leave the territory», he pointed out during his daily press conference, known as ‘La Mañanera’.
«Those who have some activity there should know that they are not alone and that we are going to be aware of everything that may happen,» he asserted before emphasizing that Mexico «will always defend the right to asylum» since «it is part of its foreign policy.» «We are going to take measures but completely contrary. We are not going to expel anyone. We have not done it and we are not going to do it,» he added.
In this sense, López Obrador has taken the opportunity to «regret the decision of the Government of Peru», a Government that he has described as «questioned as a whole for its actions, especially for opting for repression and not seeking a way out of the conflict through dialogue and with the democratic method».
For the Mexican President, the best option was «to call elections as soon as possible to avoid a situation of political instability». «Many times this fundamentally affects the brotherly people of Peru,» he said. «We know how to distinguish very well between the people, who are a brotherly people, and the attitude of the so-called political class, of the economic and political power groups of Peru, who are the ones who have maintained this crisis for their personal ambitions and economic interests», he said.
The ambassador, for his part, landed this morning at the airport of Mexico City, the capital, after being expelled from Peruvian territory. He was accompanied by the relatives of former president Pedro Castillo, his wife Lilia Paredes and their two children. All of them have received political asylum in Mexico.
The Mexican Foreign Minister, Marcelo Ebrard, has indicated in his Twitter account that Castillo’s family «is already in Mexico City». «Our country has honored its tradition of asylum. I recognize Ambassador Pablo Monroy for the effectiveness of his efforts in complex circumstances,» he said.
Paredes and Castillo’s children were received by the director general for South America of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Martín Borrego. The plane in which they were traveling landed at around 7:00 a.m. (local time) after Peru set a 72-hour deadline for them to leave the country and granted them a safe-conduct.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
