Peruvian President Pedro Castillo resigned on Thursday from the Peru Libre party, with which he came to power, two days after the group asked him to leave its ranks after accusing him of breaking internal unity.
Castillo said on his Twitter account that he presented his “irrevocable resignation” from the Marxist party Peru Libre before the electoral jury due to his “responsibility as president of 33 million Peruvians.” He added that he is “respectful of the party and its bases built in the campaign.”
Castillo registered as a member of Peru Libre in September 2020, then became a presidential candidate and, after beating conservative candidate Keiko Fujimori in June 2021, came to power on July 28.
Even before beginning his mandate, Castillo maintained differences with the founder of the Free Peru party, the neurosurgeon Vladimir Cerrón. Even on one occasion, in May 2021, he told the press that Cerrón “is not going to be seen even as a doorman in any of the State institutions.” However, his first cabinet had a prime minister, Guido Bellido, a member of Peru Libre, and that group continued to place militants in several key executive positions.
But the relationship between the two deteriorated to the point that on Tuesday Cerrón announced on his Twitter account that Castillo had been invited to leave the militancy and pointed out that the policies undertaken by the government “are not consistent with what was promised in the electoral campaign and even less with the program and ideology of the party, implementing a losing neoliberal program”.
In 11 months of government, the legislative caucus of Peru Libre —which had 37 legislators last July— now retains 20, another 17 dissidents have formed two groups close to Castillo.
Castillo’s resignation from the party that brought him to power occurs in the midst of two investigations that the president is facing for organized crime and corruption, one from the prosecution and another from a congressional oversight commission.
The parliamentary investigation is the same as that of the prosecution that maintains a hypothesis in which the president led an organized group in the government to award works in exchange for money.
Castillo and Parliament enjoy high disapproval ratings in all polls.
The disapproval of the president is 70%, while the unpopularity of Parliament is 75%, according to a June national survey by the Ipsos Peru firm.
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