He denied everything. The statement made by the Minister of the Interior, Juan José Santiváñez, in his presentation yesterday before the Oversight Committee, in which he responded to the alleged protection and assistance of the Executive in the escape of Vladimir Cerrón, did not convince the majority of the congressmen present.
This is because Santiváñez avoided answering about the content of said audio when presenting an expert report that concluded that it was not his voice that appears in said recording made by the police captain, Junior Izquierdo, known as ‘Culebra’, and that was delivered to the Prosecutor’s Office. In that audio, he is heard saying, among other revelations, that the fugitive leader of Peru Libre was helped to escape from the police when he was transferred in a presidential vehicle assigned to Dina Boluarte.
The president of the Oversight Committee, Juan Burgos, confirmed that Captain Izquierdo was summoned again for Wednesday 11th. (Video: Juan C. Chamorro)
“That audio does not contain my voice, it is not me,” Santiváñez told the commission.
However, the minister’s testimony contradicts itself. This is because he accepted that he met, on May 21, in a chifa (he did not give the name of the place), with Captain Izquierdo, which is the date of the meeting in which, according to ‘Culebra’, he recorded Santiváñez.
In his speech, the Minister of the Interior also admitted that he is a friend of Izquierdo, and that he had more meetings with the police officer, in the company of other people, in which they talked about other issues.
This was the departure of ‘Culebra’ after his presentation to the Oversight Committee. (Video: Juan C. Chamorro)
CULEBRA’ ACCUSES PALACE
For his part, ‘Culebra’ confirmed the veracity of the content of the audio. In his statement, which lasted almost three hours and was held before the Interior Minister’s statement, he assured that he had provided the Oversight Commission with an expert report of the audio of the meeting with Santiváñez, and that he would corroborate that the recording was true.
He explained that he made the audio recording of the meeting with the minister without imagining the revelations that he was going to give, and he specified that he did it because he felt disappointed by him because before being appointed to that position, he had promised him that he would support Diviac, but in the end he did not do so, and tried to dissolve it – according to him – by order of the head of state.
According to ‘Culebra’, at the aforementioned meeting, the head of the Interior also assured that the cell phone of a person from Cerrón’s inner circle was intercepted, and that his whereabouts were known, and that he shared this information with four high-ranking officials from the Government Palace, and that after two hours, the aforementioned telephone device was deactivated because it had been alerted.
Izquierdo said that Santiváñez did not give the names of these officials, and only said that they were “big shots.”
LOOK: House where Vladimir Cerrón is believed to have been raided
The police officer also said that the minister said, in the meeting they had, that Cerrón was protected by eight Cuban soldiers, and that he was taken to Pisco in Dina Boluarte’s presidential vehicle.
Before the meeting ended, the commission approved summoning ‘Culebra’ for next Wednesday 11th to continue with the investigations.
I KNEW THAT
-“The expert report that the Prosecutor’s Office will carry out The audio provided by police officer Izquierdo will determine its veracity,” said the president of the Oversight Committee, Juan Burgos.
-In the plenary session on Thursday 12th the request for powers of an investigative commission will be voted on so that banking and communications secrecy can be lifted.
-If there is a green light, The commission will have 120 days to investigate this case.
