The resignation of Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski last week is an untimely and negative event for Mexico, which loses a trusted and important partner in the context of the Pacific Alliance and the Organization of American States ( OAS ).
During his short tenure of 602 days (20 months) the former leader, widely known as PPK , confirmed his solid conservative credentials joining Mexico , Brazil , and Argentina , among other nations concerned by the growing authoritarian trends of the Venezuelan government headed by Nicolás Maduro .
Kuczynski called for the liberation of political prisoners back in 2016 and also backed the revocatory referendum promoted against Maduro shortly after the opposition won the legislative elections.
Kuczynski paid an official visit to Spain in June 2017, where he warned about the turmoil and the risk of a “sea of blood” in Venezuela, while his Foreign Minister Ricardo Luna Mendoza mentioned the possibility of enlisting Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as a mediator in the case due to Ottawa’s role as a “global power.”
The former Peruvian President and Luna Mendoza were sceptical about the pressure over Maduro’s regime in multilateral forums such as the OAS, however they signed the “ Declaration on the situation in Venezuela ” along with other 13 member nations—including Mexico , the United States , and Canada —, urging the Caracas authorities to release political prisoners and to recognize the opposition-controlled National Assembly ( unicameral Parliament ).
Nevertheless, these efforts were fruitless and the election of a constituent assembly radicalized the Maduro regime, but, as a transition figure, new Peruvian President Martín Vizcarra is expected to maintain the overall strategy of PPK, good news for Mexico both in politics—Lima will host on April 13 the eighth Summit of the Americas —and in trade and economic cooperation.
Founding members
It is in the multilateral, economic realm where the Mexico-Peru cooperation has been successful.
As founding members of the Pacific Alliance in 2011 , both countries, working together with Chile and Colombia — Costa Rica is finishing the process to become its fifth member—sent a strong message of integration and free trade which helped to establish the new Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership ( CPTPP ), approved by 11 nations on March 8, 2018 , the same day that the White House signed steel tariffs deepening the protectionist tendencies that also led to the U.S. withdrawal from the pact.
The Pacific Alliance represents nearly 35% of Latin American GDP and accounts for nearly all formal agreements with Asia, in sharp contrast with Mercosur , the other predominant trade bloc in the region, whose members, including Brazil and Argentina , have no current free trade agreements with Asia .
On March 6 , Peru assumed its pro tempore presidency for 2018-2019 and the bloc issued a joint statement, declaring its firm intention to grant the status of associate states to Australia , Canada , New Zealand , and Singapore .
It is also worth mentioning the presence of Pacific Alliance nations in the possible expansion of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership ( RCEP ).
The RCEP is a trade deal between 16 Asia-Pacific countries since 2013 . In 2016, Mexico, Peru, and Chile expressed interest in the deal, raising the possibility of the RCEP becoming a vehicle for Asia-Latin America integration.
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