The extraordinary political events that occurred in Peru on Wednesday, Dec. 7, have forced officials from Mexico, Peru, Chile, and Colombia to postpone a meeting that was set to take place in Lima the following week, Mexico News Daily reported.

The Congress of Peru voted to oust Pedro Castillo, who took office in July 2021, due to “moral incapacity” in an impeachment trial held just hours after he attempted to dissolve the legislature by decree.

Having called for new legislative elections, the now-ex-president had intended to install a "government of exception." His vice president, Dina Boluarte, as well as opposition legislators and the leftist leader's allies, have accused him of staging a coup attempt. On Dec. 7, afternoon, Boluarte was sworn in as president.

At a summit in the Peruvian capital on the following Wednesday, President López Obrador was supposed to hand over command of the four-nation Pacific Alliance to Castillo.

The conference has been postponed owing to the "latest events in Peru," which included Castillo's arrest by the national police, Foreign Affairs Minister Marcelo Ebrard stated on Twitter.

López Obrador, for his part, expressed concern that Castillo had to deal with "an atmosphere of confrontation and hostility" from the start of his "legitimate presidency" because of "the interests of the economic and political elite."

In the same Twitter post, AMLO added that the hostility the ex-Peruvian president experienced “led him to take decisions that were used by his adversaries to carry out his removal.”

He has already declared his support for Castillo and even dispatched a delegation to Peru in the latter part of last year to assist him as he resisted efforts by the country's conservative opposition to have him removed from office.

Castillo was removed from office a day after Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, Argentina's current vice president and a former president and first lady, was convicted guilty of corruption and given a six-year prison term, although having immunity that prevents her from being detained right now.

The vice president, found guilty of directing public roadworks contracts to a family friend while president and first lady, can remain in office as she attempts to have her conviction overturned.

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Representation Image. 12019/ Pixabay

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