MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Peru's Parliament falls short of declaring Evo Morales persona non grata

Evo Morales has repeatedly voiced his support for Castillo

Peruvian Congress turns down motion to declare Evo Morales “persona non grata”

Peru's Parliament Thursday turned down a motion whereby the declaration of former Bolivian President Evo Morales as “persona no grata” was to be debated.

Politicians opposed to President Pedro Castillo wanted those actions taken against Morales for allegedly meddling in internal affairs and his favourable stance regarding his fellow indigenous leader.

The proposal fell short of approval with 45 votes in favour, 63 against and 13 abstentions. It needed 63 votes to be admitted into the debate.

“The motion proposes declaring the Bolivian citizen Evo Morales a person not welcome, due to his unacceptable and constant interference in national politics,” said the rapporteur before he was submitted to the vote of the plenary.

The request, submitted by Congresswoman Norma Yarrow of the conservative Avanza País party, urged Morales to stop commenting on Peruvian politics.

Morales has visited Peru twice in recent weeks. and was among the foreign guests at Castillo's swearing-in ceremony on July 28, and spent a week in Peru. Then he returned to participate in an event of the teachers' union, to which Castillo belongs.

On that occasion, he ruled out being an advisor to the Peruvian president but maintained that he has enormous coincidences with his government program. “My brother Pedro does not need any advice, he has a lot of experience,” he said on August 12.

In his last visit to Lima, Morales assured during a press conference that the coronavirus pandemic is part of a biological war created by capitalism. “Regarding the pandemic, I am convinced that it is part of the biological war. Capitalism, imperialism that exports, nuclear weapons, chemical weapons, even biological ones,” Morales said. According to Morales, the pandemic seeks to eliminate the elderly, poor and disabled population, which is supposedly unproductive and represents a social burden.