First modification:
An opposition congressman filed a complaint against the president of Peru for “treason against the country” for his statements about facilitating an outlet to the sea for Bolivia. The request carries a five-year disqualification. The Subcommittee on Constitutional Accusations of Congress, the entity in charge of setting up the vote to advance the case, postponed the session due to changes in four legislators and would hold it between Tuesday or Wednesday.
This Monday the problems for President Pedro Castillo advanced after a congressman exposed the terms of the report where he requests disqualification for five years and accused him of “alleged commission of the crime of treason.”
In his appearance, Diego Bazán, a member of the opposition front ‘Avanza País’, criticized the president’s statements in an interview last January with about the possibility of granting a maritime route to Bolivia and pointed him out for affecting national sovereignty and the Peruvian territorial integrity.
However, he clarified that he is not seeking punishment for the “crime of opinion”, but for a violation of the Magna Carta.
After Bazán’s request, the progress was left in the hands of the Subcommittee on Constitutional Accusations of Congress, but the vote on the report was postponed by the entity’s president, Lady Camones, due to changes in four members of the legislative group, three from the center-right party ‘Popular Action’ and one from the leftist ‘Peru Libre’.
Camones promised that the session will be held between Tuesday or Wednesday so that the members have time to learn about the accusation against Castillo, but the date of the next assembly has not been confirmed.
If it gives rise to the complaint against the president, it will go to the Permanent Commission, an entity that must analyze it before taking the discussion to the plenary session.
In the debate on the final report, there were legislators who branded the accusation as lacking a legal basis since it is only a statement and not a specific procedure.
In contrast, opponents insisted that a constitutional violation was perpetrated that warrants punishment.
Castillo has a history regarding the claim to the sea for Bolivia. It was during a conference of professors from Latin America in 2018, held in La Paz, that the president stressed that at that time he was not even considering the possibility of taking steps in that direction if he were a presidential candidate.
Given the repercussions that his statements entailed, members of the government and Castillo himself had clarified in February that there was no plan, project or intention to give Bolivia a maritime passage. “I would never do things that the people do not want,” he said at the time.
Peru, Bolivia and the historic dispute over a maritime space
The highland country lost its passage to the Pacific Ocean during the War of the Pacific against Chile. In 2013, 130 years after the end of the conflict, La Paz sued the trans-Andeans before the International Court, but their request was dismissed by the court.
Peru has been a vital partner in giving Bolivia reduced rights in its longing for an outlet by sea. Former President Alberto Fujimori, in 1992, granted a space of five kilometers in the port of Ilo.
The decision was extended by Alan García in 2010 for 99 years, without territorial sovereign rights in Peru.
with EFE
