Mexico Backs an Attempted Coup in Peru

Reaction around the region has been somewhat predictable. Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Bolivia, all one-party police states, and Colombia, which has been lost to the underworld of drugs and thugs, are calling for Mr. Castillo to be reinstated.

But among surviving democracies, Mr. López Obrador’s support for Mr. Castillo stands out. Even Argentina’s President

Alberto Fernández

and Chile’s President

Gabriel Boric

recognized the presidency of

Dina Boluarte,

the former vice president who was sworn in to succeed Mr. Castillo. President Boluarte has received 14 European ambassadors at the presidential palace and met with the U.S. ambassador to Peru. But on Tuesday Mexico suspended diplomatic relations with Lima.

The facts speak for themselves: Peru’s congress had received from the attorney general significant evidence of the Castillo administration’s corruption. At least five credible witnesses had come forward, claiming to have firsthand knowledge of bribes paid to the government. A vote to impeach was imminent.

It wasn’t clear that the opposition would prevail. But Mr. Castillo wasn’t taking any chances. Before the legislature convened that Wednesday, he announced he was closing it down, along with the judiciary, the attorney general’s office and the constitutional court. He declared a national emergency so he could rule by decree. Had Peru’s military and national police backed him up, the country would have become an instant dictatorship.

Instead, his attempted coup triggered a series of cabinet resignations, including that of his defense minister. When Mr. Castillo tried to flee, he was arrested by national police. Congress impeached him and he is now in prison.

Mr. Castillo was a teachers union activist before he became a presidential candidate under the tutelage…