The Congress of Peru, dominated by the right-wing opposition, began a plenary session on Monday that will culminate in the vote on an impeachment motion against leftist President Pedro Castillo for alleged “moral incapacity.”
“Subjected to the rules of democracy […]I will always be facing the country,” Castillo said as he began to present his defenses to the plenary before the accusations of alleged corruption in his environment and lack of direction of his government, which began eight months ago.
The parliament session, attended by half a dozen ministers and an OAS delegation, began shortly after 3:00 p.m. (8:00 p.m. GMT) and after Castillo’s appearance, his lawyer, José Félix Palomino, should speak.
“The vacancy motion is due to permanent moral incapacity, but it does not contain a single element that validly supports it, it is a compilation of versions from a sector of the press,” added Castillo, who was wearing a traditional Andean gray suit and he wore the red and white presidential sash across his chest.
The motion will be voted on this Monday after a debate that would take at least four hours. In December, Congress rejected a first request for Castillo’s dismissal, a figure that has already led to the fall of two Peruvian leaders since 2018.
The outcome is unknown, since the opposition lacks the necessary 87 votes required by the Constitution to remove a president. Of the 130 legislators, the opponents add up to about 80, while the official members of the Marxist Free Peru and related groups border on 50.
If Castillo is dismissed, he will be replaced by his vice president, Dina Boluarte, although if she withdraws, it will be up to the head of Congress, the opposition María del Carmen Alva, to assume the position.
