The decision to suspend diplomatic relations with the so-called "sadr", announced by the government of president Dina Boluarte, has been warmly welcomed by many politicians, MPs, human rights activists, academics and journalists in Peru and other countries on the Latin American subcontinent.

Former Peruvian Foreign Minister Luis Gonzalez Posada told MAP that his country's government had just overturned a previous decision by former president Pedro Castillo, who had violated the principles of Peru's foreign policy by recognizing a puppet entity.

The former Peruvian diplomat stressed that the suspension of his country's relations with the polisario would open a new page in the historic and fraternal relations between Morocco and Peru, which next year will celebrate 60 years of diplomatic ties.

Paraguayan historian and academic Luis Aguero Wagner considered Peru's suspension of relations with a fictitious entity to be a decision that falls within the common sense of history and confirms once again that the Sahara was and will remain Moroccan.

For this professor of history at the Air Force Institute of Paraguay and author of a book entitled "Moroccan Sahara beyond Western Sahara", the Peruvian decision is in line with international law and opens up new prospects for bilateral cooperation not only between Rabat and Lima, but also with the whole of Latin America, where the nature of the conflict has become clear and whose countries support the legitimacy of the Moroccan position and its territorial integrity.

For her part, the former president of the Peruvian Congress, Marta Chavez, stressed that Peru's decision to suspend diplomatic relations with an imaginary entity "is in line with the permanent friendship that binds us to the Moroccan people".

She added that Peru has always been respected in international forums and "cannot afford to establish relations with an entity that does not exist on the ground", describing the "polisario" as a separatist group that does not represent the Saharawis and whose greatest concern is to divert humanitarian aid and violate human rights in the Tindouf camps.

Unfortunately, she lamented, the Castillo government was out of the story, but the new Peruvian government appreciates Morocco's efforts to find a solution to this conflict.

Carlos Ernesto Bustamante, president of the Peru-Morocco parliamentary friendship group and chairman of the support group for the Moroccan autonomy initiative within the Peruvian Congress, underlined that the suspension of relations with a separatist entity corrects a mistake made under former president Castillo.

He added: "We welcome Peru's decision concerning the conflict over the Moroccan Sahara, which will help consolidate diplomatic, commercial and cultural relations between Peru and Morocco, two countries which next year will celebrate the 60th anniversary of the establishment of their diplomatic relations."

In Chile, human rights activist Juan Moraga, president of the NGO "Human Rights Without Borders", praised Peru's decision to suspend relations with "an entity that does not hesitate to violate human rights."

For Moraga, Peru's decision will make it easier to denounce the serious violations committed by this armed group against the Saharawis held against their will in the Tindouf camps.

For his part, Ricardo Sanchez Serra, vice-president of the Federation of Journalists of Peru and an expert in international relations, considered that his country, by suspending diplomatic relations with a fictitious entity, "has rediscovered the natural path in its foreign policy and international relations, based on common sense and respect for the Kingdom's territorial integrity and international law.

Sanchez Serra added that it made no sense for Peru to remain hostage to the decision of the government of a president accused of a coup d'état and guilty, for ideological reasons, of having recognized a fictitious entity, recognized neither by the United Nations, nor by the European Union, let alone by 160 UN member countries.

The worst thing about all this, added the Peruvian journalist, is that the polisario leaders' links with terrorism and drug trafficking are well known, and Peru is a victim of these two scourges.

The decision by Peru, a country that has produced world-renowned diplomats, is seen by many observers as a sign of friendship towards Morocco and support for the United Nations' efforts to resolve the artificial conflict over the Moroccan Sahara.

Observers in Latin America point out that Peru is thus aligning itself with the position of those countries that are convinced of the justness of the national cause and of the Kingdom's sovereignty over its southern provinces, and that the solution to this dispute lies in the autonomy initiative described as "serious and credible" by the international community.