Despite having only been in power for eight months, Peruvian President Pedro Castillo (left) is facing a vacancy process through which he could be removed. However, analysts believe that the opposition would not get enough votes (87 out of 130) in Congress.
On Monday, 76 deputies supported taking the process to the plenary session, recalling what happened in the falls of former presidents Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, in 2018, and Martín Vizcarra, in 2020.
Another 41 deputies voted against and there was one abstention.
The president of Congress, María del Carmen Alva, proposed that the president’s fate be decided by the plenary in this political trial on Monday, March 28, at 3:00 p.m., which was accepted by her colleagues. Castillo may attend this session to present his defenses or send an attorney to represent him.
According to the Peruvian political analyst José Carlos Requena, this resource is more political than legal or judicial, and between the first vacancy request made to Castillo in December —which he won— and now there have been many revelations.
“On the one hand, allegations of corruption; and on the other, the appointment of questionable characters. Even a Cabinet lasted less than a week due to this type of situation, these judicial matters of the president’s entourage, which includes his former personal secretary Bruno Pacheco and who also has as potential effective collaborators this same secretary or people who visited the Government Palace repeatedly,” says Requena, who adds that the issue is that there are many complaints that the visits to the palace would have served to favor some contractors with some last resort decisions.
He even says that $20,000 in cash was found in a bathroom in Pacheco’s office, who argued that it was part of his savings.
Castillo visited Congress to discuss the motion last Tuesday and denied the accusations.
“Today I categorically reaffirm that I have not committed any act of corruption, much less participated in any situation that has sought to favor private interests,” said the head of state.
For Requena, it is very difficult for the vacancy to occur, since eleven more votes would be needed, and several deputies from the groups that support the president, including his own party, Peru Libre, would have to vote in favor. However, we must wait two weeks until the vote to see if there is no incident in the judicial, media or political sphere that has the weight to mark the outcome.
The first eight months of the Castillo government (which in theory should last until 2026) have been known more for erratic management from the beginning, for its inexperience; but from October accusations of alleged corruption in his environment also began to appear.
For analyst Luis Benavente, the presidential vacancy motion due to moral incapacity does not seem impossible to achieve, taking into account previous cases.
“He has given reasons (…), since apparent evidence of corruption emerges every day that would involve him. And, on the other hand, he has appointed highly questioned officials, with judicial processes, sympathizers of Sendero Luminoso (…); a series of very high-level direct collaborators who do not represent what should be the requirement for a holder of a public office of this importance, and that contributes to the opposition permanently questioning him,” says Benavente, who is often critical of Castillo. .
He believes that the president is going to face a difficult situation with this “impeachment a la peruana”, nuanced with the words “moral incapacity”, because what for some can be cataloged in that way cannot be for others, but for him this does happen in this case.
As for the politics of the country, Peru has had five presidents in four years, denoting a great instability of the Executive by constant fights against the Congresses on duty.
Since 2016, the vacancy process for political issues began to be used. In the first Kuczynski was saved, but in the second it seemed that he was going to be removed and he resigned before the motion. Then his successor, Martín Vizcarra, also had two motions; in the second he was dismissed.
Then Manuel Merino was president, who, after the fall of Vizcarra, took over as president for being in charge of Congress. However, Vizcarra was popular and the streets forced Merino to step aside just five days later. After the problem, Francisco Sagasti ended up taking office, who in the end ended in July 2021 the presidential term that Kuczynski had begun in July 2016.
For Requena, there is a structural problem in Peruvian politics that has made achieving governability very complicated since 2016. In addition to pointing out that Castillo has made inconvenient decisions in this scenario.
“We are reaching a limit situation, and what will have to do in political terms is to move to a greater dialogue that can channel expectations (…), because President Castillo has more than four years left in his term and, if he persists in this tonic, it seems unlikely to me that I can complete them (…). Political actors must reach a new pact that seeks a more representative policy, in a context in which democracies in general are in precarious situations in all latitudes,” says Requena, who believes that the country’s economy has shown signs of resilience. and the political actors themselves have kept some things safe in this regard. (I)
Source: Eluniverso
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