The relationship of the President of the Republic, peter castlewith the Public ministry is at its most tense, after – after just over a year of management – he accumulates at least seven preliminary investigations and the syndication as leader of two criminal organizations. In the thesis of Public Prosecutor’s Office and in the opposition speech, the head of state went from being a person “incapable of governing” the country to be the ringleader in more than one criminal organization chart which extends from the Tarata III Bridge case to the one of the “Shadow Advisors”.
In political scientist’s analysis roger santacruzin an interview with The Republicthere is an inconsistency in how the image of peter castle from the eyes of his opponentswho went from underestimating him to giving him a much higher assessment and seeing him as a person capable of leading up to three alleged criminal organizations —identified by the Public ministry— entrenched in the highest spheres of the Government, which would be made up of former Ministers of State, high-profile functions, regional authorities, businessmen and their family environment.
“Part of the construction of the opposition’s discourse is the fact that they first tried the strategy of fraud and then the delegitimization of the president. Subsequently, the undervaluation of the presidential figure appears after his interventions in the press that disqualified him for the position and now we have gone from an undervaluation to an overvaluation where we are considering the president as a leader of a criminal organization”, he told this outlet.
In this line, Santa Cruz warns that These two profiles of the president are not related: “These two versions do not generate a correlation, they do not coincide, since an incapable and inefficient person would not have the capacity to generate a criminal organization of that nature. There is an inconsistency in this construction of the story that also responds to conjunctural and temporal factors”.
For its part, Alonso Cardenaspolitical scientist and professor of Political Science at the Antonio Ruiz de Montoya University, considers these two projections of the image of the head of state do not conflict and translate into a presumed criminal organization which is characterized by its improvisation and being unstructured: “What happens is that these images can coexist, they are not opposing images and they can perfectly coexist”.
“Indeed, the President of the Republic has many difficulties in articulating speeches, he has no command of the issues; but this improvisation and weakness of the president and his entourage is also shown with this alleged criminal organization, because it is also improvised, weak, disorderly and poorly structured, ”he comments.
While, Jorge Luis RamosSalinas, a sociologist and political analyst at the San Agustín National University in Arequipa, recalls that Peruvian law establishes that when there is coordination between two or more people to commit crimes, they are called a criminal organization. In this sense, considers that the fiscal thesis is framed within the correct noticing the presence of these organizations.
“We have criminal organizations that may be relatively powerless, others like in this case that are apparently linked to the highest levels of the Executive and that would be their power, also others such as those of (Alberto) Fujimori that encompassed all the powers of the State and many other institutions such as the media”, he comments.
Pedro Castillo, alleged leader of three criminal organizations
In May 2022, the then interim prosecutor of the Nation, Paul Sanchez —making a new interpretation of article 117 of the Constitution— ordered to expand the investigation against the president for the alleged crimes of criminal organization, aggravated influence peddling and aggravated collusion related to the Tarata III Bridge case. This made the head of state the first acting president to be preliminarily investigated in Peru.
Back then, Paul Sanchez He stated that there were “reasonable indications” to suspect that the head of state would head a supposed criminal organization installed in the state apparatus. Within the structure led by Castle Lumps would be high officials such as the then Minister of Transport and Communications (MTC) Juan Silva Villegastoday a fugitive from justice, and six congressmen from People’s Action referred to as The Children.
Months later, in August of this year, with Patricia Benavidez at the head of the Public Prosecutor’s Officethe head of state was positioned as the head of a family criminal organization, which would also be integrated by his wife Lilia Paredes-Navarro and her sister in law Yenifer Paredes, who is currently serving a 30-month preventive detention in the Chorrillos Women’s Annex prison. The first lady still has a pending request to prevent her from leaving the country against her, which must be resolved by the Power of attorney.
The fiscal thesis points out that different State institutions would have taken over with the purpose of directing works in some regions of the country and thus benefit financially. The first lady, the president’s brothers-in-law, senior officials, district authorities and businessmen would have been involved to manage the award of millionaire projects in Cajamarca.
The most recent case occurred in October 2022, when via leak of Task Force Report No. 068 – 2022 exposed the organization chart of the alleged criminal organization called ‘Shadow Advisors’, a title coined by the Public Prosecutor’s Office and that it would have as its leader the President of the Republic, Pedro Castillo Terrones.
This criminal group would be made up of people like Second Alejandro Sanchez Sanchez Y Bruno Pachecoin addition to the president’s nephews: Friar Vasquez Castillo Y Gian Marco Castillo Gomez. It also includes other people who are close to the president and who worked with him as advisers or in key positions of the Government Palace as the Presidential Office.
The image of Pedro Castillo in Congress
The syndications from Public ministry towards the president peter castle as a leader of several criminal organizations has been collected in the Congress of the republic, especially in the fiercest sector of the opposition. This narrative was present in the investigations developed by the Control Commission chaired by Hector Venturawhich recently requested new powers to investigate the president for being the alleged ringleader of a family criminal organization.
On the other hand, this argument is also consigned within the third presidential vacancy motion that the ungrouped congressman will present Edward Malaga, who announced that this Thursday, October 13 It would begin with the collection of signatures: “The president has prioritized his interests and those of his relatives.” This narrative will also be reflected in the discussion that will take place in the Subcommittee on Constitutional Accusations (SAC) when the complaint filed by the Nation’s prosecutor, Patricia Benavides, against the president is addressed.
Likewise, roger santacruz notices a politicization in the behavior of Patricia Benavidezsince the fiscal hypotheses would be serving as inputs for resources that aim to remove from office peter castle: “The fact that an institution of a legal nature assumes political powers or, at least, plays institutionally against the opponents of the President of the Republic removes that cloak of impartiality and rather places it in a position of cooperation in favor of the vacancy or removal of the president. That dents the image of the Public Ministry”.
In the meantime, Alonso Cardenas points out that the country is not going through a political crisis, but by a decomposition of its institutionswithin which is the Presidency of the Republic and also the Public Prosecutor’s Office: “There are many doubts about the suitability that prosecutors should have. We are not in a political crisis, but in a continuous process of our institutions”.
Finally, Jorge Luis RamosSalinas agree that the work of Patricia Benavidez affects tax investigations and gives rise to peter castle can be victimized: “The fact that the (constitutional) accusation was presented based on matters related to the UN and not to the Political Constitution of Peru, makes it clear that the departure of Castillo from the presidency is a primary objective of the Office of the Prosecutor of the Nation. ”.
