The session would be behind closed doors. The spokesperson for Fuerza Popular, Arturo Alegría, and the congresswoman for Renovación Popular, Milagros Jáuregui, assured Peru21 that on the same day of the questioning to the Minister of Defense, Wálter Astudillo, about the purchase of the 24 planes for US$ 3.5 billion, it will be decided whether this will be in a “reserved session.”
This is because it is an issue of national security, as the congressman for Honor and Democracy, José Cueto, has explained to this newspaper.
However, Alegría and Jáuregui agreed that Astudillo must explain the urgency of the million-dollar purchase of airplanes.
For Jáuregui, the aforementioned acquisition is unnecessary, and that money can be used for health and citizen insecurity, such as the construction of hospitals and the purchase of patrol cars.
Interview with congressmen Arturo Alegría (FP) and Milagros Jáuregui (RP) about the questioning of the Minister of Defense. (Video: Juan Carlos Chamorro)
The Plenary Session of Congress will question, as we remember, next Wednesday the 30th of this month, the Minister of Defense, Walter Astudillo, about the announced purchase of 24 war planes for US$3.5 billion. This, after the revelations by Perú21 that revealed not only this acquisition but two other aircraft, including a presidential plane.
LOOK: War planes: Astudillo will be questioned in plenary on Wednesday the 30th
On October 2, the head of Defense confirmed the purchase of the 24 war planes through internal debt, which will include two stages: the first for US$2,000 million in 2025, and the second for US$1,500 million in 2026.
In his presentation in Plenary, Astudillo will have to answer a list of 41 questions, 18 of them referring to the questioned purchase.
FP SUPPORT
The 17 votes from the Fuerza Popular (FP) bench were key to obtaining the 44 votes required yesterday, according to the regulations, for Astudillo’s interpellation motion to be approved.
In the orange bench there was freedom to vote by conscience. Legislator Ernesto Bustamante was the only one who voted against.
The groups of Peru Libre, Acción Popular, Together for Peru and Popular Democratic Bloc, and left-wing benches, also gave their green light to obtain the admission of the interpellation.
The final result of the final vote was 60 votes in favor, 40 against and 10 abstentions.
In support of the motion, the spokesperson for the Together for Peru – Voices of the People (JPP-VdP) group, Roberto Sánchez, explained that the motion is broad, and also includes questions about the purchase of rifles from Israel, criminal Challapalca, border protection, forest fires and citizen security.
For their part, congressmen José Cueto, from Honor and Democracy (HyD), and Roberto Chiabra, from APP, defended the questioned acquisition of aircraft, arguing that it is for national defense, and that since the 80s and 90s The fleets of Mirage 2000, Mig 29 and Sukhoi Su-25 aircraft have not been renewed.
IT IS NOT PRIORITY
On the other hand, according to the latest Ipsos survey for América TV, for 92% of the population it is not a priority to buy war planes.
Perú21 has also collected testimonies from representatives of professional unions and civil society, who have criticized the unnecessary acquisition at this juncture in which the country is waging an internal battle against insecurity. Fortunata Palomino, president of the Network of Common Pots of Lima, said that “the priority is the security of the country” and recalled that there are merchants who are closing their businesses because of extortion.
I KNEW THAT
-The Minister of Defense has indicated that he will file complaints of treason against those who question the purchase and respond to foreign interests.
-In addition to the war planes, two transport planes will be purchased, one of them would be used as a presidential plane.
-“It is an excess of the Minister of Defense, when he says that we should be prosecuted for treason,” said the spokesperson for the JPP-VdP bench, Roberto Sánchez, and author of the interpellation motion.
-“(The Government) today intends to spend more than 14 billion soles on the purchase of weapons that are unnecessary today,” said Lucio Castro, secretary of Sutep.
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