LA PAZ, Bolivia (HPD) — Bolivia called its ambassador to Iran, Romina Pérez, on Tuesday to offer a report on statements she made to the Iranian press in which the diplomat allegedly condemns the street protests following the death of a woman who was arrested for not wearing the Islamic veil properly.
“The diplomatic representative was summoned by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to establish herself in the city of La Paz immediately,” the Bolivian Foreign Ministry said in a statement, without going into details.
The call to Ambassador Pérez comes after the political opposition demanded that the Bolivian government “clarify the Bolivian position” regarding the protests taking place in Iran after the death of Mahsa Amini.
“These are absolutely unacceptable statements because they ended up relativizing and generating support for the Iranian regime, which at this moment is massacring women who fight for their rights,” opposition senator Cecilia Requena told local media.
Deputy Gladys Quispe, of the ruling Movement for Socialism (MAS), said that beyond “committing interference in internal affairs, denigrating women is a reprehensible act.”
Pérez released a video on the Facebook page of the Bolivian embassy in Tehran in which he states that he did not make “any statement condemning the feminist marches in Iran,” and assured that his statements to an Iranian media outlet were ” manipulated”.
The government of leftist President Luis Arce maintains good diplomatic relations with the Iranian regime. The Bolivian president met with his Iranian colleague Ebrahim Raisi when they both met in New York for the UN General Assembly last month.