“I don’t discuss with fellow ministers,” Rodríguez said when asked about Chero’s statement, usually a spokesman for President Pedro Castillo and who described the foreign minister’s position against the aforementioned agreement as merely personal.
He added that his statements correspond to his position as Minister of State and the prerogatives he has as Foreign Minister.
“The ratification project of the Escazú Agreement is shelved and must remain so, taking into account the national interests,” said the minister, questioned by his detractors for contradicting the country’s traditional foreign policy.
Rodríguez assured he is unaware of the possibility that the Executive will present a new project to recognize the Agreement, which the Parliament, with an opposition majority, refused to ratify for the same reasons given by the current foreign minister, which is supposedly contrary to national sovereignty.
In ratifying that position, the Minister of Foreign Affairs said in this sense that the agreement establishes that the differences between the participating countries will be aired at the International Court of The Hague, which undermines Peruvian sovereignty, although the State accepts other international legal instances.
Chero said last night that this is “a position of the Foreign Minister”, which does not correspond to that of the Government and announced that, as Minister of Justice and Human Rights, he will promote a project to insist on seeking ratification in the unicameral legislative body, which protects the defenders of the environment, among other scopes.
“That is a position of the Foreign Minister, to the extent that he has recently taken charge of that Ministry; I am going to talk with him,” he said, in time to deny that the agreement undermines national sovereignty.
On the other hand, Rodríguez defended his decision to break diplomatic relations with the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic less than a year after the government of President Pedro Castillo, of which he was a constant opponent.
The surprise appointment of the foreign minister led to the resignation of veteran diplomats Manuel Rodríguez and Harold Forsyth from the posts of Peruvian ambassadors to the United Nations and the Organization of American States.
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