The Peruvian Government announced yesterday Wednesday the definitive withdrawal of its ambassador in Colombia as a result of the comments "intrusive and offensive" of Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who "persists in distorting reality" unaware that former president Pedro Castillo carried out a failed self-coup on December 7.
An official statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs added that the attitude of Petro and his "continuous interventionist expressions have seriously deteriorated the historic relationship of friendship, cooperation and mutual respect" that has existed between Peru and Colombia.
The Foreign Ministry added that Peru has reacted in a "weighted, progressive and proportional, in accordance with diplomatic practice and taking into account the close relationship that unites it with Colombia, for more than 200 years".
In this sense, he stressed that the country "wishes that the close and bicentennial bilateral relationship with Colombia resume its course within the framework of mutual respect and the norms, principles and values that govern coexistence between the states".
The ministry also specified that "With the final retirement of the Peruvian ambassador in Colombia, diplomatic relations between Peru and said country are formally at the level of business manager".
Last February, the Peruvian Congress had already declared Petro persona non grata for his comments against the government of President Dina Boluarte and other state entities, by not recognizing the legitimacy of his administration.
Thus, at the last Ibero-American Summit held in the Dominican Republic, Petro stated that the person who should be present at this meeting of heads of state was Pedro Castillo, who is being detained while being investigated for the crimes of rebellion and conspiracy as a result of the failed coup attempt. of State.
"Today it should be here, they took it out. He is in prison"expressed Petro in the presence of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Peru, Ana Cecilia Gervasi, who replied that if Castillo is not present it is because "gave a coup".
"If it were, they would have a dictator"Gervasi expressed at the summit.
The Foreign Ministry also withdrew its ambassador to Mexico in February, following comments by its president Andrés Manuel López Obrador of open rejection of the legitimacy of Boluarte, who became the Peruvian Executive in 2021 as vice president of Castillo
Yesterday, Wednesday, López Obrador reiterated that "the legal and legitimate president of Peru is Pedro Castillo, who is unjustly in jail. They are accusing him, since he entered they began to accuse him, and they have him in jail".
However, the Mexican president added that he will talk with Petro and with the president of Chile, Gabriel Boric, to see how to hand over the pro tempore presidency of the Pacific Alliance to Peru, after having refused to do so in recent months.