The US asks Peru to make the necessary reforms to protect democracy

The US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, asked the different political actors in Peru to multiply their efforts to make “the necessary reforms” with the ultimate goal of safeguarding the democratic stability of the country.

READ ALSO: More than 300 officials were irregularly appointed in the Castillo government

Blinken transmitted that request to the president of Peru, Dina Boluarte, during a telephone conversation last Friday and the content of which was made public this Sunday by the State Department in a statement.

According to the State Department, during the conversation, Blinken expressed his wish that “the institutions of Peru and the civil authorities multiply their efforts to make the necessary reforms to safeguard democratic stability” from the country.

The statement did not specify which reforms Blinken was referring to; but, one of the reforms that has been debated in Peru in recent days is a constitutional change to advance the general elections to December 2023.

This proposal, which implies a cut in the mandates of the Legislative and the Executive, was rejected by the Peruvian Congress last Friday.

Likewise, Blinken emphasized during his conversation with Boluarte the “need for all Peruvian stakeholders to engage in constructive dialogue to ease political divisions and focus on reconciliation”.

Peru has been experiencing an institutional and social crisis since its Congress dismissed the now former president Pedro Castillo on December 7, after he announced the closure of the Peruvian Parliament and the formation of an emergency executive, in which he would govern by decree, which was mostly interpreted as an attempted coup.

After the dismissal, the until then vice president, Dina Boluarte, formed an Executive to which the citizens have also responded with protests.

This Saturday, President Boluarte ruled out that she is going to resign and demanded that Congress reconsider “early election voting”, after the rejection on the eve of the Executive project to hold elections in December 2023, while protests persist in the country, which have already left at least 23 dead.

Boluarte, who has been in office for eleven days since he replaced the ousted former president Pedro Castillo, also announced a prompt reorganization of his cabinet of ministers to better face the crisis, after two of his ministers resigned in rejection of the deaths.

The demonstrators coincide in protesting the dismissal of Castillo and in demanding the advancement of the elections and the closure of Congress. Others are also calling for Boluarte’s resignation and for the release of Castillo, who has been detained on charges of rebellion since he tried to dissolve Congress, with which he was in conflict, last week.

EFE