Peru Recalls Ambassador to Colombia Amid Diplomatic Tensions

The Peruvian foreign ministry said on Wednesday that the move followed “repeated interference and offensive expressions” by leftist Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who was “distorting reality by ignoring that on December 7, 2022, a coup d’état took place in Peru perpetrated by former President Pedro Castillo.”

During the Ibero-American summit last week in the Dominican Republic, Petro lamented that Castillo was not present, saying he “should be here, [but] is in prison … They took him out with a coup.”

Peru’s Foreign Minister Ana Cecilia Gervasi responded during the summit, explaining that “if Pedro Castillo is not here, it is because he carried out a coup.”

With Wednesday’s announcement, diplomatic relations between the two South American countries are now formally at the level of chargé d’affaires, according to the foreign ministry.

Petro’s “continuous interfering expressions have seriously deteriorated the historical relationship of friendship, cooperation and mutual respect that has existed between Peru and Colombia,” the statement added.

Castillo, 53, has been behind bars since December 7 when he was arrested after attempting to dissolve parliament and rule by decree.

The leftist leader had been trying to ward off a third vote in Congress to impeach him for alleged corruption.

His removal sparked mass nationwide protests that have left at least 54 people dead and some 600 injured from clashes between demonstrators and security forces.

Protesters have demanded the resignation of Castillo’s successor, his former vice president Dina Boluarte.

They also want immediate elections, a new constitution and the dissolution of parliament.