Messiah GuevaraPresident of Acción Popular and former regional governor of Cajamarca, maintains that the way out of the political crisis is the resignation of Dina Boluarte and, furthermore, it ensures that Congress is “trapped” by the conveniences of the extreme right and the extreme left.
Everything indicates that there will be no consensus to advance the elections this year and that President Boluarte will not resign.
In these circumstances, what solution is there to the political crisis?
—What we have told the President of the Republic is that, in view of the intransigent, indolent and irresponsible situation of the Congress of the Republic, she can only resign. He Political Committee He took that agreement a few days ago and we issued a statement, the same one that we have sent to the President of the Republic.
“What did you say?”
—She mentioned that there are benches that are thinking about 2026. I have told him that this would be a serious mistake. I have suggested that she have a real reading of what is happening at the national level, that we are fractured, fragmented, and that Peru is stained with blood, and that she has to listen to the people more than to those who tell her what she wants to hear. .
—Do you think then that you will not even evaluate a possible resignation?
—He hasn’t said anything about that. Apparently, she feels confidentbacked by the Congress. I have suggested to him that he should look at his own performance beyond what Congress says.
—Regional governors, rectors of public universities and various sectors of the population are calling for Boluarte’s resignation. Isn’t that enough for you to take it into account?
—You should take it into account not only because various institutions ask you to, but because you are simply running out of two variables: on the one hand, time, and, on the other, the degree of freedom of maneuverability. There will come a time when the forces that support her, when she finds herself overwhelmed by popular outcry, will leave her alone, and they will ask her to resign.
—Maybe they just wait for the protests to subside…
—That’s what they’re aiming for. I told the president that sometimes there are withdrawals to make a stronger leap. The macronorth is waking up. Cajamarca is concentrating on the carnival, but when it happens, it will surely join. I told the president not to trust herself, because the claim will remain latent, and that is not good for governability.
—We are trapped, as in a blind alley…
—We are trapped, in a deadlock where unfortunately there is an intransigence from both extremes, the extreme right and the extreme left. The extreme right is thinking about its “combo” of reforms, such as congressional re-election and bicamerality, about how to approve a sneaky re-election; and the extreme left is thinking about its constituent assembly. Both, at this moment, are very difficult to specify… The extremes have joined, and one of the extremes has joined the bench of People’s Action. The Political Committee of the party has issued a statement in which we have publicly distanced ourselves from the actions of the bench and its parliamentary initiatives; to us, they are acting far from the party’s political tradition.
—The Popular Action bench issued a statement ignoring his call, calling him former president, stating that he has no position…
—They are right about something, in the sense that we have not gone to compromise the bench. We have already said it in the statement of the Political Committee: the bench does not represent us, neither the party nor its voters. We have gone on behalf of the party because, for us, the bench is a right arm isolated from the institutionality.
—They indicate that you are a former president…
—The issue is that at this moment we do not have a registered general secretary because the jury has not recognized him, and to elect my successor, an electoral congress must be held in which the National Executive Committee and the Departmental Executive Committees participate., which currently does not exist, so it cannot be summoned. But, for the current congressmen to be elected, I convened plenary sessions so that the National Electoral Committee approves the regulations and internal elections are held. There they did recognize that he was president, but not now because we are in a confrontational situation… Right now the dispute is in the general secretariat; and we have recommended to the National Electoral Committee that it call a new election to elect the general secretary, the Executive Committee and all the bodies of Peru, in order to call an electoral congress to elect our successors.
—Congresswoman Maricarmen Alva has indicated that she has four tickets a month to go wherever she wants without giving explanations. Is it so?
—It is a wrong reading. It is true that congressmen have four tickets and can travel to any part of Peru, because the congressman represents the entire nation, but you always have to give an account, because they are official passages and not for personal issues.
—Isn’t it incongruous that they oppose a referendum to change the Constitution, when they have more than 50 articles that they want to change?
—The Constitution Commission has become a mini constituent assembly. They are acting inconsistently, because on the one hand they say no to the change of the Constitution, but they modify articles of the Magna Carta at your free will.
—That, in practice, is accepting that a new Constitution is needed…
—Sure, you do need one. new constitution because the social contract has already been exhausted. Our Constitution is not prepared to make amendments, but it is prepared for constitutional changes; but unfortunately this Congress does not want to understand it, and they act under their personal and subordinate interests, trying to change the articles of the Constitution in what favors them, but no more. The message is that they are the only ones who can change the Constitution, but the people cannot.
