Pedro Castillo: third president with a vacancy process in just five years

The Congress of the republic yesterday gave rise to a new stage of the political crisis in the country, by admitting to debate the vacancy motion of Pedro Castillo. This is the third president to face a process to be removed from office in the last five years. The date for the debate and final vote has been set for Monday, March 28.

There were 76 votes in favor of taking the next step in this vacancy process, on behalf of the Alliance for Progress (APP), Popular Action, Popular Force, Popular Renovation (RP), Avanza País, Podemos Perú and even Somos Perú, a party that had been seen as an ally of the Government.

They only voted against the groups Peru Libre, Together for Peru and Democratic Peru.

YOU CAN SEE: The 5 processes of presidential vacancies in Congress in the last five years

During the session, There was a previous question from Jorge Montoya (PR), who asked that the debate and voting session be held on March 18. The entrapment forced the president of Congress, María Alva, to summon the Board of Spokespersons.

During the reserved meeting, Renovación Popular and Avanza País proposed setting the session for March 18. The other benches did not agree. The agreement was put to a vote, but no longer as a preliminary question, but as a proposal. The final decision of the Plenary was to set the session for March 28 at 3:00 p.m.

YOU CAN SEE: Castillo can talk about the topics he wants in his presentation before the Plenary this Tuesday 15

defense exercise

Yesterday, the head of Parliament, María Alva, sent President Castillo the official letter, informing about the admission to debate of the vacancy motion.

“During the development of the session, you may personally exercise your right of defense or be assisted by a lawyer, for a total of sixty minutes,” the document specifies.

Palace sources reported that It has not yet been discussed whether Castillo will attend personally to defend himself or if he will only send his lawyer.

YOU CAN SEE: Alva asks Castillo not to talk about the points of the vacancy motion in his message on Tuesday the 15th

The president yesterday visited San Martin and from there he regretted that the motion to remove him from office has been admitted for debate.

“It saddens me that, at the same time, the tripping continues and the people are not listened to, because they just approved the vacancy motion,” he said.

Castillo also referred to the accusations against him and the people around him. “We have to tell the country that we have not come to steal a penny from it,” expressed in a public act.

YOU CAN SEE: Hildebrandt reveals that Castillo wanted him to have an “important presence” on TV Peru

From Loreto, Vice President Dina Boluarte said: “We are against the issue of corruption, but I think that at this time to vacate a president or present a vacancy motion is to exaggerate the note, so to speak.”

Who was also yesterday in regions is the premier Hannibal Torres. From Apurímac, the official alluded to racism, as a cause of this vacancy process. “All of us who are here (in the Government), for that political class that now wants to vacate the president, none of us who are here have the conditions to be president, because we do not meet the racial characteristics that they probably have,” he said. .

YOU CAN SEE: Prosecutor’s Office raids department in Magdalena linked to nephews of President Pedro Castillo

Very weak support

There are twenty facts exposed in the vacancy motion, ranging from the meetings in Breña’s house, through the appointments of questioned ministers, to the investigations carried out against Bruno Pacheco and the declarations of Karelim López.

In the opinion of constitutional lawyer Omar Cairo, the motion suffers from a clear constitutional support, in relation to facts that may lead to the vacancy due to permanent moral incapacity of the president.

“All the grounds for this motion are accusations of alleged crimes that are under investigation. There are also descriptions of events that correspond to third parties, such as the statement about a hacker who would have deleted information or the Petroperú official who would have ordered the elimination of evidence; they are third parties,” she pointed out.

Driving. Montoya tried to speed up the process. Photo: Congress

YOU CAN SEE: Senior official about Castillo not talking about the vacancy: “He has not been prohibited, but invoked”

The vacancy game

The two previous presidents who faced vacancy processes were Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, who resigned in April 2018, in the middle of a second vacancy process, and Martin Vizcarra, who was vacated on November 9, 2020.

In dialogue with La República, the political scientist Paula Távara lamented that the vacancy processes have been normalized. “A narrative is being installed in the sense that a president can be removed when the opposition has the votes; because neither Congress nor the Constitutional Court have defined permanent moral incapacity well”, questioned.

In his opinion, “a figure as serious as the vacancy is being perverted and is being used as a mechanism to question the president.” Távara considered that Parliament could have regulated a figure so that the president responds, as happens in other countries, so as not to go to an extreme political institution.

YOU CAN SEE: Peru Libre criticizes Alva asking Castillo not to speak about the vacancy before Congress

The 20 facts reported in the vacancy motion

Alleged contradictions and lies in tax investigation.
Questions about the appointments of various ministers.
Complaint about the alleged shadow cabinet.
Meetings of Bruno Pacheco with businessmen.
Phrase of President Castillo on outlet to the sea for Bolivia.
Complaints about alleged bribes for police promotions.
The meetings in Breña and refusal to give list of attendees.
President’s silence on the 20 thousand dollars found in the Palace.
questions about the tender in favor of the Tarata III Consortium.
Deposit of 20 thousand soles from nephew Eric Huaymana to Bruno Pacheco.
Complaint about the filter of teaching tests attributed to the daughter of former Minister Gallardo.
Version that Castillo received Karelim López and representatives of Petroperú and Heaven Petroleum at the Palace.
Complaint about alleged deletion of information by the hacker Juan Carlos Ocaña Cruz.
Complaints against Hugo Chávez and elimination of evidence in Petroperú.
Alleged interference in military promotions.
The party organized for the family of Castillo en Palacio, by people today investigated.
Illegal appointment of Daniel Salaverry as president of Perupetro.
Having publicly expressed that “he was not trained to be president.”
Interference of Vladimir Cerrón sentenced for corruption in the appointment of three ministers.
Statements by Karelim López attributing to Castillo the leadership of alleged illegal acts in the MTC.