US Undersecretary of State meets with LGBT activists in Peru

The US Undersecretary of State, Wendy Sherman, met this Wednesday in Lima with half a dozen community activists LGBT, on its first day of activities in Peru after arriving from Uruguay.

“Excellent meeting with Peruvian LGBTQI activists. We continue to work with allies and partners to reduce discrimination towards the LGBTQI + community while promoting equal rights for all people, ”said Sherman, quoted by her country’s embassy in Lima on her Twitter account.

Sherman is the most prominent visitor to the United States to come to Peru since President Pedro Castillo took office 100 days ago, whose government on Monday expressed its rejection of the questioned elections in Nicaragua – in line with Washington -, unlike others. Latin American leftist governments that hailed the fraudulent reelection of Daniel Ortega.

Among the topics to be discussed by Sherman in Lima are democratic governance, trade and investment, migration, the pandemic of COVID-19, the promotion of rights and the climate crisis, according to the State Department.

For now, neither the Peruvian government nor the embassy have confirmed whether Castillo will receive the number two of the US diplomacy, who ends his visit to Lima on Thursday.

The undersecretary will also meet with leaders of indigenous communities, according to the State Department.

Sherman’s visit follows the one made in April 2019 by then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, which focused on the Venezuelan crisis.

Peru has welcomed a million Venezuelan migrants who escaped the crisis in their country.

In addition, Peru was the promoter of the Lima Group, created in 2017 by a dozen American countries in search of a peaceful solution to the crisis in Venezuela, although the bloc has lost prominence.

Sherman wrote on Twitter this Wednesday that she was “proud” to be the daughter of a “marine”, noting that the United States Marine Corps is in charge of protecting US diplomatic missions around the world.

Before Peru, Sherman visited Uruguay, where he met with President Luis Lacalle Pou and other authorities.