MEXICAN PRESIDENT CONFIRMS REGIONAL MEETING CANCELLED

FILE PHOTO: Mexico Presidency/Handout via REUTERS

November 25, 2022 | By Colin O. Jarrett |

Mexico’s president confirmed Tuesday (November 22) that a planned meeting this week of the regional group, known as the Pacific Alliance, will not take place, because Peru’s congress did not give that country’s president permission to leave the country.

Peruvian President Pedro Castillo currently holds the presidency of the Pacific Alliance, but he has been locked in ongoing disputes with his country’s congress over corruption allegations.

“They did not allow the President of Peru to attend,” President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said, adding, “It is possible that we could go to hold the meeting there, in Peru in December”.

Lopez Obrador also confirmed that Argentine President Alberto Fernandez and Brazil’s president-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, are not coming to the planned meeting in Mexico City this week.

Lopez Obrador had hoped to host the presidents of those countries, as well as Chile and Colombia, but he confirmed the leaders of the latter two countries are coming.