Washington, March 1. The United States denied on Wednesday that its ambassador in Lima, Lisa Kenna, had any interference in the crisis that Peru has been going through since the failed self-coup and the subsequent imprisonment of former President Pedro Castillo.
State Department spokesman Ned Price thus responded to Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who defined Kenna as an “adviser to the putschists”, in reference to the new Peruvian government of Dina Boluarte.
“Our ambassadors and diplomats do not take sides in political disputes or support particular candidates,” said the US diplomacy spokesman, who said Kenna is “doing very important work.”
Price argued that the United States respects the “sovereign decisions” of different countries and supports both democracy and the Constitution of Peru.
López Obrador, who expressed solidarity with Castillo, has been highly critical of the US ambassador’s role in the Andean country since meeting new president Dina Boluarte.
Following criticism from López Obrador, Boluarte first ordered the expulsion of the Mexican ambassador to Peru and then withdrew his ambassador to Mexico City.
State Department Undersecretary for Latin America Brian Nichols on Tuesday expressed his desire that President Boluarte and Congress reach an agreement to move the election forward and end the crisis.
Nichols, who served as US ambassador to Peru between 2014 and 2017, said successive changes of government in the Andean country in recent years demonstrate “the fragility of Peruvian democracy” and that Castillo’s attempt was “clearly unconstitutional”. EFE
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