Peru will impose a mandatory visa for Mexicans

The Peruvian Foreign Minister, Javier González-Olaechea, declared this Monday that he does not rule out that the imposition of visas on Peruvians to enter Mexico, announced on Saturday and that his country will also apply reciprocally, responds to the diplomatic tensions between both nations.

“I do not rule it out, (but) I am not in a position to affirm it,” declared the Minister of Foreign Affairs in statements to the RPP radio station.

Diplomatic relations between both countries are maintained at the level of chargé d’affaires after the open rejection of the president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, of the Peruvian president, Dina Boluarte, whom he even described as a “usurper”, after having assumed power. Head of State after the failed self-coup of Pedro Castillo, on December 7, 2022.

In addition to the withdrawal of both ambassadors, this confrontation caused López Obrador to refuse to hand over to Peru the ‘pro tempore’ presidency of the Pacific Alliance in 2023, in a situation that was only resolved after the intermediation of Chile.

González-Olaechea added that Mexico’s “unilateral decision” did not take them “by surprise.”

However, he expressed that they have gone “calibrating the internal repercussions because it obviously affects the Pacific Alliance itself in the first placewhich Peru is part of along with Mexico, Colombia and Chile, and which clearly establishes the circulation of people and goods as a principle.”

Regarding Peru’s decision to also request a visa for Mexican citizens, the minister explained that “it has been taken precisely as a result of the measure imposed by Mexico” due to the principle of reciprocity.

The Mexican Embassy in Lima confirmed on social network

Mexico had eliminated this requirement for Peruvians in November 2012. as visitors without permission to carry out paid activities, with the aim of streamlining the flow of people and commerce.

In turn, Peru announced on Saturday that it will impose a mandatory visa for Mexican citizens who decide to visit its territory, in application of the “principle of reciprocity” after a similar measure taken “unilaterally” by the North American country.

“Given the unilateral announcement by the Government of Mexico of impose the requirement of a temporary visa for Peruvian citizens who decide to visit their country, and in application of the Principle of Reciprocitya fundamental rule in the relationship between sovereign States, the Government of Peru will impose the visa requirement on Mexican citizens who decide to visit our country,” an official note communicated.

He added that Peru “regrets this decision by Mexico that undermines efforts to improve bilateral relations and affects the programmatic commitments assumed in the Pacific Alliance to facilitate the free movement of people between both countries.”

“Like Mexico, Peru will make some exceptions that will be specified in a next supreme decree,” he said before saying that Mexican citizens who have a Schengen visa to the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States, Australia and Japan will not require a visa..

Nor those who have permanent residence in the mentioned countries and in the members of the Pacific Alliance, made up of Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru.