The Foreign Affairs Committee of Peru’s Congress approved a Tuesday (14) motion declaring Colombian President Gustavo Petro persona non grata.
Petro had criticized the handling of anti-government protests and the arrest of former President Pedro Castillo.
According to the decree, the reason for the decision is Petro’s “unacceptable public statements” about law enforcement’s handling of the violently crushed protests that killed more than sixty people in just over two months.
“In Peru, they are marching like Nazis against their own people, violating the American Convention on Human Rights,” which should not be applied only against leftist governments, which would be an exercise in “double standards,” Petro said over the weekend during the ceremony to present the credentials of ambassadors to the country.
In the motion, which passed with 13 votes in favor, three abstentions, and none against, the parliamentary committee considers the statements made by Petro, who, like other regional government leaders such as Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has been highly critical of Peru’s handling of the political crisis, a “grave insult.”
The Mexican ambassador in Lima was expelled in December and declared persona non grata after Obrador agreed to grant Castillo and his family political asylum.
In addition to the persona non grata declaration, the document calls on Congress to urge the Interior and Foreign ministries to do everything they can to prevent Petro from entering the country.
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