MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Friday criticized a state of emergency imposed in Peru to tackle violent protests and slammed the U.S. ambassador to Lima for meeting the South American country’s new leader.
Unrest in Peru erupted after the ousting of leftist President Pedro Castillo, who was arrested last week after trying to dissolve the country’s Congress.
Lopez Obrador, a fellow leftist, has called Castillo the rightful president of Peru, even as he insists his foreign policy is dictated by non-intervention in the affairs of other states.
Peru’s state of emergency has granted police special powers and imposed limits on civic freedoms. Lopez Obrador described the Andean nation as being in a “state of siege.”
“Force must not be used, the people must not be repressed and freedoms must be guaranteed,” Lopez Obrador said during a regular news conference.
Lopez Obrador took aim at the U.S. ambassador to Peru, Lisa Kenna, for meeting President Dina Boluarte, who replaced Castillo.
“Doesn’t it seem to you like a display of arrogance, a failure to respect how things are done?,” he asked reporters.
Lopez Obrador later questioned whether the U.S. government was aware of what its officials were doing in Peru.
“It may even be (U.S. Secretary of State Antony) Blinken of the State Department doesn’t know about it, and it was down to the embassy,” Lopez Obrador said. “Because that’s how they’ve always done it, especially in Latin America.”
Mexico’s government has said it is consulting with Peruvian authorities about an asylum request Castillo had made to Mexico.
Still, an opinion poll published this week by Mexican newspaper El Financiero said 52% of Mexicans opposed giving Castillo asylum, with only 37% in favor. It also showed 51% of respondents felt Lopez Obrador should stay out of the affairs of other countries, with 39% saying he was right to give his views.
(Reporting Raul Cortes Fernandez and Diego Ore; Editing by Paul Simao)
