Peruvian President Pedro Castillo holds a press conference at the presidential palace in Lima on October 11.
Martin Mejia/AP
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Martin Mejia/AP
Peruvian President Pedro Castillo holds a press conference at the presidential palace in Lima on October 11.
Martin Mejia/AP
LIMA, Peru — Peruvian President Pedro Castillo dissolved Congress on Wednesday and called for new legislative elections, but Congress rejected the decree and voted to elect a vice president to replace him.
Castillo tried to beat lawmakers as they prepared to debate a third attempt to remove him from office. The National Ombudsman’s Office called it a coup.
Castillo also formed a new emergency government and called on subsequent legislators to draw up a new constitution for the Andean nation. Meanwhile, Castillo said in a televised address that he would rule by decree and order a nightly curfew starting Wednesday night.
Castillo also announced that he will be making changes to the leadership of the judiciary, the police and the constitutional court. The head of the Peruvian army and four ministers, including those for foreign affairs and the economy, have resigned.
Castillo acted hours before Castillo’s opponents in Congress reached a third vote to remove him from office, arguing that he had “permanent moral incapacity” to lead the Andean nation. . It is not clear if they have enough 87 votes out of the 130 lawmakers needed to remove him.
The Office of the Ombudsman, an autonomous government organization, said in a statement that after years of democracy, Peru is in the midst of a constitutional collapse that “cannot be called anything but a coup.”
The office called on Castillo to resign and submit himself to the judicial authorities.
“Mr. Castillo must remember that he was not only elected president of the republic, but was also elected by the people to represent the public good,” the statement read. “Castillo’s actions ignore the will of the people and are invalid.”
It called for Vice President Dina Boluarte to assume the presidency. Boluarte via Twitter denied Castillo’s action because “it exacerbates the political and institutional crisis that Peruvian society will have to overcome by strict adherence to the law.
Peru’s Joint Chiefs of Staff and National Police rejected the constitutionality of Castillo’s dissolution of Congress in a statement.
Castillo said in an unusual midnight speech on state television ahead of the vote that he would never tarnish “the reputation of my honest and exemplary parents, who were like millions of people.” Peruvians, working every day to build an honest future for their families.”
The farmer-born president said he is paying the price for mistakes made by inexperience. But he said a certain area of Congress “has the only agenda item to remove me from office because they never accept the outcome of an election that you, dear Peruvians, my dear, determined by my vote.”
Castillo, whose government began in July 2021, has denied the corruption allegations against him, saying they are based on “rumours of people, who are seeking to mitigate the punishment for the crime.” crimes that are alleged by abuse of my trust, are trying to entice me without proof.”
Federal prosecutors are investigating six cases against Castillo, most of them allegations of corruption, under the theory that he used his power to profit from public works.
The struggle for power in the capital of Perú continues as the Andes and its thousands of small farms struggle to survive the worst drought in half a century. Without rain, farmers could not grow potatoes, and withered grass could no longer sustain herds of sheep, llamas, llamas, and llamas. Making matters worse, bird flu has killed at least 18,000 seabirds and infected at least one poultry producer, endangering chickens and turkeys raised for day meals. traditional festival.
The government also confirmed in the past week that the country has suffered a fifth wave of COVID-19 infections. Since the beginning of the pandemic, 4.3 million Peruvians have been infected and 217,000 of them have died.
Castillo is three times as popular in Congress, according to opinion polls. A survey by the Research Institute of Peru last month found that 86% disapproved of Congress and only 10% approved. while Castillo’s negative ratings are 61% and 31% approve of his performance.
There is a stark contrast in the South American country: While in Lima, the majority disapprove of Castillo and want him to go, Peruvians in other cities and rural communities across the interior want him. he fulfills his presidency and his promises. Instead, many Peruvians want Congress closed.
But with few sure votes in Congress, Castillo was unable to keep his promises including fighting corruption, raising mining taxes, rewriting the constitution and pursuing monopolies believed to have increase the price of natural gas and medicine.
As the first president from a poor farming community in the nation’s 200-year history, Castillo arrived at the presidential palace last year without any political experience. He changed cabinet five times during his one-and-a-half year rule, running through 60 different cabinet officials, paralyzing various government agencies.
Although Castillo was the first president to be investigated while in office, the investigations are not surprising in a country where nearly every former president of the past 40 years has been charged with corruption-related charges. multinational corporations, such as the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht.
Since 2016, Perú has been engulfed in political crises, with parliaments and presidents seeking to eliminate each other in turn. President Martín Vizcarra (2018-2020) dissolved the National Assembly in 2019 and ordered new elections. That new legislature removed Vizcarra the following year. Then came President Manuel Merino, who lasted less than a week before the crackdown left two protesters dead and more than 200 others injured. His successor, Francisco Sagasti, lasted nine months before Castillo took over.
