A year of Castillo in Peru: the alliance “remains loyal to the president”

First modification: 07/29/2022 – 17:08

“They destabilize and demand the vacancy, not because of a lack of results or because of non-existent accusations that they will never approve, but because they defend their private interests and avoid the changes that my government is determined to carry out. What we have done in these 12 months has been hidden, as today I am going to show it!” Pedro Castillo said this Thursday before the deputies.

“Little self-criticism”

Between cries of “Corrupt!” and parliamentarians who turned their backs on him, Pedro Castillo carried out an exercise that was not easy: defending his first year in the Presidency, when Justice is investigating him in five cases of corruption and a part of the congressmen wants his resignation.

According to the director of Political Science of the Peruvian University of Applied Sciences, Omar Awapara, the president showed “little self-criticism about the management errors that have probably led him to that situation a bit,” and returned “to use antagonism with the media of communication to justify criticism of his government.”

Castillo said that no charges could be approved against him, but that he would submit to justice. “The president cannot be accused during his term, but he can be investigated. And that is what the Prosecutor’s Office, the Public Ministry, is doing. And what he is going to do in several of the investigations is probably to collaborate in interrogations, but there is no room for an accusation”, Awapara points out.

I support the president

The president seems more alone than ever, but even so, he is holding on, because those who want him to resign still do not have the necessary quorum. “Although there is a distance with the party with which he came to power, they are still part of the same government coalition. The pro-government caucus continues to be a pro-government caucus, only divided into several factions. There is a cerronista bloc, which is that of Vladimir Cerrón. There is a magisterial bloc that is the one closest to the president. There are several blocks, but all the same I think they remain within the coalition and in support of the president”, details the political scientist.

“And it is also very likely that the president will turn to Peru Libre again in a possible new government. It is not an alliance that is broken, it is a relationship that fluctuates a lot” but “remains loyal to the president”, he adds.

With this context, is it possible that Castillo falls? “For now there are no votes. What is known so far is that approximately 14 or 15 votes are missing, and that still seems far away for an eventual vacancy of the president, “says Awapara.

And it is that, despite the accusations, “in the absence of convincing evidence that really links him directly to corruption issues, the president remains,” the expert concludes.