[News] Peru: The Political Crisis Worsens

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Peru: The Political Crisis Worsens
By Carlos Noriega, Orinoco Tribune.- July 12, 2022
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Above Photo: President of Peru, Pedro Castillo. File photo.

The crisis in Pedro Castillo’s government is worsening. Less than a month
before the rural teacher and trade unionist who came to power as candidate
of the left completes his first year in the presidency, the right wing,
which from the first day of the government has bet on a coup, accelerates
its plans to remove him from office abusing the power of the Congress that
it controls.

The instability of the government is accentuated by the destabilizing
maneuvers of the right wing, which in its coup plans has the support of the
big media, but one cannot deny the responsibility of a presidential
administration that has moved away from its proposals for change, is now
inoperative and lacks direction, is stained by allegations of corruption,
accumulates errors and controversial ministerial appointments, and is
weakened from within by sectarian attitudes and divisions in the governing
party.

In a new offensive against the government, the parliamentary right wing is
trying to disqualify the president and the vice president, Dina Boluarte,
removing them from their posts in order to take power. If both fall, the
head of the government would be assumed by whoever at that time holds the
presidency of the Congress. Currently that position is in the hands of the
legislator of the Acción Popular party, María del Carmen Alva, very close
to Fujimorismo and other ultra-right sectors, although in the last week of
this month the parliamentary board of directors must be renewed, which will
undoubtedly remain in the hands of the right wing, thus the coup promoted
by the extreme right would be consummated.

As part of this plan, a few days ago, the Congressional Oversight
Commission, presided by the pro-Fujimori parliamentarian Héctor Ventura,
approved a report accusing Castillo of constitutional infringement for
refusing to testify before that commission in a corruption investigation,
and for the meetings he held at the beginning of his term in the house of a
friend, outside the official agenda and without informing about those
meetings. The accusation claims that in those meetings there were
businessmen who later won bids.

Videos show lobbyist Karelim López, under judicial investigation for her
intervention in the bidding process for the construction of a bridge in
which there have been complaints of payment of bribes, entering the house
where Castillo was receiving visitors. The president denies having met her
in that place. The parliamentary commission report claims that Castillo
heads a criminal organization to give public works tenders to certain
businesspeople and lobbyists.

The president denies the charges. The parliamentary commission admits in
its report that it does not have proof of Castillo’s guilt, but only
indications and suspicions that must be investigated. Those are already
being investigated by the prosecutor’s office, but the commission went out
of its way to accuse Castillo.
Treason

Before this latest accusation, another constitutional complaint was
presented in Congress against the president for the absurd charge of
treason for having declared in an interview his sympathy for facilitating
Bolivia’s access to the sea, a declaration in which there was no mention of
ceding sovereignty, and which did not lead to any government decision. An
accusation that reveals the desperation of the right wing to find any
reason to remove Castillo.

The coup-plotting right wing knows that it does not have the 87
votes—two-thirds of the 130-member unicameral parliament—to remove Castillo
from office alleging “moral incapacity,” something it has already tried
unsuccessfully on two occasions; so now it resorts to the strategy of
impeachment for an alleged constitutional violation to disqualify him from
office and remove him from the presidency.

In order to approve the constitutional accusation, 87 votes are not
required, but only a simple majority of 66 votes, which the ultra-right
wing headed by Fujimorismo that promotes the parliamentary coup hopes to
achieve in this new case. The risk for Castillo is high.
Vice President Boluarte in the spotlight

If the right wing succeeds in removing Castillo, it will need to get rid of
the vice-president as well in order to take power. That is why Boluarte has
been subjected to a constitutional complaint accusing her of having held a
position as Minister of Development and Social Inclusion in the board of
directors of the Apurímac Departmental Club, formed by migrants from
Apurímac region who live in Lima, as is her case, when the Constitution
prohibits a minister from holding any other position except teaching.

The vice president has defended herself by pointing out that when she was
appointed minister, she resigned from her functions in the aforementioned
club, and that the subsequent steps that she took regarding the
organization were exclusively for administrative regularization to transfer
her position. In Congress, it is not the arguments that are important, but
the strength of the votes and the obsession of the right wing to overthrow
the Castillo government.

While the right wing is advancing in its aim of closing the circle of the
parliamentary coup, the ruling party is divided. The secretary general of
the ruling party Peru Libre (PL), Vladimir Cerrón, publicly asked Castillo
to resign from the party, accusing him of working to break the ruling
party’s parliamentary bloc to form his own political group and for not
fulfilling his campaign promises.

Under Cerrón’s demand, Castillo resigned from PL last week. The Peru Libre
bloc has got divided multiple times in this first year of government. Of
the 37 parliamentarians with which the party began, only 16 legislators
remain in PL loyal to Cerrón. Those who resigned have dispersed, forming
other blocs that support the government. Castillo is promoting the
formation of a new party, the Partido Magisterial.
Cerrón’s actions

The rupture of Cerrón and Peru Libre with Castillo became evident this week
when Cerronist parliamentarians voted together with the right wing to
censure Interior Minister Dimitri Senmache, who has had to leave office
less than two months after assuming charge. He was accused, without
evidence, of having facilitated the flight of former Transport Minister
Juan Silva and a nephew of Castillo, who are under judicial investigation
and preventive arrest on charges of corruption in public works tenders.
Senmache is the fourth minister removed by Congress in less than a year of
government.

Cerrón plays to the radicalism of the left, but on more than one occasion
he has become an ally of the parliamentary ultra right, joining the ultra
conservatives in their actions against policies of gender equality and now
to weaken the government. Cerrón’s sectarianism has blocked government
alliances with other progressive sectors that would have strengthened it
and has contributed decisively to its isolation.

The secretary general of Peru Libre wanted the government only for his
party, and now that he has lost positions in the Executive branch, he has
removed Castillo from the party and has voted together with the coup
leaders to dismiss a minister, which has been a hard blow to the
government. The votes of Cerronismo against the interior minister are a
warning to Castillo of what could happen to him if he does not give in to
their pressure to give more power to Cerrón and PL.

The president is now more isolated and weakened—a process that seems to be
advancing without remedy—while the right wing in the Congress accelerates
its coup plans, which threatens not only Castillo but even democracy, if
that ultra-right wing achieves its goal of capturing all power.
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