“If they’re attempting a coup and they carry out that coup, they’re not going to celebrate it. Much blood will be shed in the country, but they will fail. They will not achieve”said the then member of the Free Peru technical team Hannibal Torres. It was the end of June 2021 and peter castle had a slight advantage over Keiko Fujimori in the general elections. To counter this, People’s Force had set in motion an orange machinery that promoted the “terruqueo” and a non-existent fraud that so far Congressman Jorge Montoya is trying to find.
That bloody allusion not only created havoc in the media, but also served as an excuse for a sector, which was against what Pedro Castillo represented, to attribute that violent nuance that was needed to compose an ominous figure and relate it to remnants of terrorism.
“Silly little boy”
Days later and once the interview with the retired Admiral Jorge Montoyajournalist mario brice —the same as in 2020, in a debate in which he participated as a candidate for Congress for National Solidarity, gave two soaps to former anti-corruption attorney Julio Arbizu in reference to his skin color— gave way to Aníbal Torres to question his statements and see the possibility of an international audit due to the rumor of fraud. In response, Torres faced him with a monologue in which he was tripped by the inconsistencies in his speech and the partiality of some media outlets aligned with the orange cause to backfire on Free Peru.
“That is what I have said and that has not been said by your friend (Jorge) Montoya and neither by your candidate. Surely you are used to making people dizzy. Not with me. I have said that because that process is taking place that is going to lead to a coup d’état. They are leading society to a civil war, and what do you think it is? In civil war, what runs? Water? You are not going to come here to talk a lot and a half because you have the means, deceiving people. I’m going to listen to you. No, little boy; no, silly boy. Speak the truth, speak the law, you are not the lawthe judges are not going to do what you are saying or what your candidate or Montoya is saying, ”he attacked.
“Miserable”
Nine months later, with Pedro Castillo in the presidency of Peru, Aníbal Torres, now Prime Ministerhas not changed his peculiar sense of humor and, far from measuring it, has moved along a fine line that confuses irony with offense.
Last Wednesday, April 20, Torres described Cardinal Pedro Barreto as “miserable” during an interview broadcast on social networks. In that conversation, the head of the PCM pointed out that the Archbishop of Huancayo would also be in favor of the powerful groups and claimed him for not ruling on the successes of the Executive.
“There we have a priest, priest Valverde, no, sorry, I was wrong, the priest, authority of Huancayo, I forgot his name, so miserable can this person be. He thinks one is a fool. He is in favor of powerful groups (…). I was wrong, it’s not Valverde, it’s Barreto. Of course he wants the government to become part of the right wing”, he expressed.
These statements came after Cardinal Barreto announced that he had met with Pedro Castillo in order to assess the political, economic and social situation in which the country finds itself. On that occasion, Barreto indicated that the head of state had in his plans to make a “radical change”which included a series of changes in the ministerial cabinet that would distance him from the general secretary of Peru Libre, Vladimir Cerron.
“I say this transparently, without any fear, I leave the premiership and as if nothing… There is Max Hernández, I know him, we have talked, isn’t it true that you are always on the side of the extreme right? To the priest Barreto, isn’t it true that you are always on the side of the extreme right?”, continued the prime minister.
Finally, given the public rejection of the Presidency of the Peruvian Episcopal Conference Faced with his qualifications, Torres indicated at a press conference that it was only a “popular saying” and that he had no intention of offending the representative of the church.
“In an interview they did to me, I didn’t remember the name of the cardinal and then I said ‘this person can be so miserable that I don’t even remember his name or something like that. It is a popular saying that is used anywhere, also in Lima. He does not remember the name of the person and says it. That has been, but not with the intention of offending, ”she pointed out.
“Since you can’t by law, I’m going to make you jump a wall”
In February, Aníbal Torres had another incident in which his response caused confusion. At that time, there was speculation about alleged struggles that there would be within the Executive to pardon the ethnocacerist leader Antauro Humala. Given this, Torres said he would make Humala jump over a wall and take him away in a speeding car. So, no more.
“Since you can’t by law, I’m going to make you jump a wall. At that time, I am going to make all the Police go to lunch and I am going to put a car that has a speed of about 300 kilometers per hour so that they can leave,” he said outside the Government Palace.
It was not until the following day that, uncomfortable due to the lack of humor of his interlocutors, he stated through his Twitter account that the ethnocacerist leader sentenced to 19 years in prison could not obtain his freedom. Furthermore, he also referred to the Susana Silva Hasembank’s dismissal from INPE for returning former dictator Alberto Fujimori to “his golden prison.”
“By law, Antauro Humala cannot be released, I have said so since I took office. Yesterday, sarcastically, I said that ‘I’m going to make him jump over the prison wall when the guards are having lunch and a car will be waiting for him on the street so that he can escape at 300 km/h.’ But they don’t even understand. The former president of INPE, against the provisions, has returned Fujimori to her golden prison. This is an act of corruption and discrimination between sentenced people, ”she explained.
Anibal Torres Twitter
“Just because this chubby guy says something crazy, then it’s true”
In November 2021, the president of the Central Reserve Bank (BCR), Julio Velarde, criticized a rule that placed limits on interest in order to prevent bank usury. Torres did not take Velarde’s discontent with this measure well and He described the economist’s opinion as “nonsense”.
“The president himself came out to criticize the law that established that limitation (of interests), saying that it violates free competition. And that is another absolute ignorance, just because this chubby man says some nonsense, then it’s true”, he mentioned.
Hannibal Torres and Adolf Hitler
At the beginning of April, during an activity of the decentralized Council of Ministers in Huancayo, Aníbal Torres used former German dictator Adolf Hitler as an example to propose improvements in agricultural communication routes. The prime minister told an anecdote in which Hitler visited Mussolini and saw a road leading from Milan to Brescia.
“On one occasion Adolf Hitler visits northern Italy and Mussolini shows him a highway built from Milan to Brescia. Hitler saw that, he went to his country and filled it with highways, airports, and made Germany the world’s leading economic power. We have to make an effort, make sacrifices to improve our communication routes, not only those that lead from one city to another, but also, even if it is a good path for the time being, that leads from the farm to the market so that the peasant can get their products (sic)”, he explained.
After the criticism from Congress and the German and Israeli embassies, towers apologized for the statements made and invited the Israeli ambassador to talk. Subsequently, the dialogue was held, but the prime minister again used the figure of the former German dictator. This time to compare it with him too former dictator Alberto Fujimori.
“Yesterday I gave an example of how the most seasoned criminal can do positive deeds, now I am going to give an example of Peru, and that is now behind bars —that he was the mediate author to proceed, for example, the kidnapping of the students of La Cantuta (…)—, can I say that he did not do something good? I would be missing the truth. I am honest person and tell the truth. And I’m not afraid of anything because I’m not clinging to the position. I have learned in my life to be able to survive with my work, with my study and not only by begging as others have done in 200 years of republican life”, said Torres during a decentralized session of the Council of Ministers.
