Days before many of Latin America’s leftist leaders were expected to gather in an attempt to unite behind an anti-American agenda on the region, Peru’s president, Pedro Castillo, the host of the summit, was arrested and removed from office amid corruption allegations. 

Lima’s congress on Wednesday afternoon voted for removal hours after Mr. Castillo attempted to “temporarily” disband the congress in order to “reestablish the rule of law and democracy.”

The American ambassador to Peru, Lisa Kenna, quickly voiced her disapproval of that idea. “The United States categorically rejects any extra-constitutional act by President Castillo to prevent Congress from fulfilling its mandate,” Ms. Kenna wrote on her Twitter account. 

Ignoring Mr. Castillo’s intention, Congress went ahead with its business. Of the 107 votes cast, 101 were in favor of removing the president from office. According to Peruvian media, Mr. Castillo then voluntarily gave himself up to the police, and the legislature called Vice President Dina Boluarte to replace him. 

Soon after Mr. Castillo’s removal was announced, Mexico’s foreign ministry said that the December 14 summit of the Pacific Alliance leftist leaders swept into office by the recent pink wave in Latin America had been postponed. No new date has been set. 

Mr. Castillo was reportedly attempting to seek refuge at the Mexican embassy at Lima, a source told the Sun. He ended up in custody at a police station. It was unclear whether he gave himself up or was arrested by the national guard. 

The summit of the Pacific Alliance was spearheaded by Mexico’s president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, popularly known as AMLO, who was set to play host before the Peruvian president’s legal woes upended his plans. 

The populist Mexican president is aspiring to create a new bloc of regional leftist leaders, akin to the European Union, to ensure that Latin America will “no longer be considered a place of inequality and poverty.” During a press conference in November, AMLO added that the economic, commercial, and political spheres of Latin America must be integrated to boost the “sovereignty of the countries.” 

In addition, Mr. Lopez Obrador aims to reform the Organization of American States so “it isn’t subordinated to any country, any government, so that it isn’t in thrall to any hegemony.” That statement was widely perceived as a challenge to what the Latin American left considers Washington’s undue influence over the OAS. 

Even as Mr. Lopez Obrador makes such anti-American statements, some of his critics in Mexico note that he habitually acquiesces to demands from President Biden, especially when they involve migrants at the border. 

“There’s a reason why White House administrations have consistently been hostile to leftist Latin American governments,” an analyst at the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers, Jesse Sandoval, said. The leaders will attempt to “permanently reform OAS in their favor” even as they “incorrectly” view trade with America as a “net negative,” he added. “This will come at the cost of development.”

Another of the region’s prominent leftist leaders, Argentina’s vice president, on Tuesday was sentenced to six years in jail and a lifelong ban on holding public office for running a pyramid scheme between 2007 and 2015, when she awarded money from state coffers in the form of public contracts to cronies. 

When Mr. Castillo was elected in 2021 he vowed to end the kind of corruption that has led to the ousting of most of the Peruvian presidents in the last decade.  

Regardless, Mr. Lopez Obrador, who accused Lima’s congress of “arrogance” in dealing with that country’s president, sees the current conditions in Latin America as an “unbeatable” moment to strike in pursuit of a leftist, anti-American agenda. Following Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s election victory in Brazil last month, Latin America’s seven largest economies are now governed by left-wing presidents.