Juan José Santiváñez has gone on a tangent and some ministers in Gustavo Adrianzén’s cabinet have felt uncomfortable with the statements that the still Minister of the Interior would have made in conversations with the Diviac agent Junior Izquierdo, ‘Culebra’, in a chifa on May 21, 2024 when he already had the sash in place.
One of these uncomfortable ministers is Eduardo Arana, of Justice, who was mentioned unnecessarily and gratuitously by Santiváñez in the conversation broadcast last Sunday on the Cuarto Poder program: “No, Arana is a conch… He advises her,” Santiváñez is said to have said. All of this is said to have caused a sector of the cabinet to support the idea of the Interior Minister not continuing.
But Santiváñez’s problems would not only come from the cabinet itself, but also from the investigations carried out by the Prosecutor’s Office.
Junior Izquierdo handed over his cell phone to the Special Team of Prosecutors Against Corruption in Power (Eficcop) in the framework of the investigation that is being carried out for the case of obstruction of justice in the case of Nicanor Boluarte, brother of the president. ‘Culebra’ maintains that there was an interest on the part of Santiváñez, since before he became minister, to exclude the Diviac agents from the investigations that Eficcop was carrying out on the president’s relative. On July 26, the telephone equipment was subjected to the UFED Cellebrite software, specialized in extracting information from cell phones with Android and iOS operating systems.
The conclusion of the UFED Cellebrite expert report was that the WhatsApp conversations on Culebra’s cell phone with Juan José Santiváñez —when he was head of the Mininter’s advisory cabinet and deputy minister— have not been tampered with and are original.
The Minister of the Interior was questioned about this yesterday on the radio station Exitosa. Santiváñez said that, if this expert opinion exists, “they will have to transfer the evidence to me so that I can corroborate it (…) I have not interfered in any investigation.
PNP NOTIFIED
After the cell phone of ‘Culebra’ was inspected inside out, Eficcop has notified the general commander of the Police, Victor Zanabria, the general inspector of the PNP, Jhony Veliz, Colonel Giovanni Osorio, of the Inspectorate, among others. This, so that the officers testify in the investigation for obstruction of justice for the deactivation of the police team that provided support to Eficcop. Santiváñez’s fate is sealed. His words in a chifa and his open conversations with his former friend have not only made the Government uncomfortable, but also now a part of the police command and other PNP chiefs are in trouble for the confessions of the one who will be sadly remembered as the ‘WhatsApp minister’.
ATTORNEY CARLOS CARO CONFIRMS THE DETAILS OF THE AMOUNT TO BE PAID
On Monday night, a small controversy arose over the fees that all Peruvians will pay for the defense of Minister Juan José Santiváñez in the proceedings, one for corruption and another for abuse of authority, that he has in the Prosecutor’s Office. And the fact is that the S/120,000, which the Ministry of the Interior approved in the final contract with the law firm of attorney Carlos Caro, has a breakdown that draws attention. Attorney Caro confirmed yesterday to Peru21 that the Ministry of the Interior has registered on the platform of the State Contracting Supervisory Body (OSCE) S/120,000 as payment for his firm, because that is how it has been provided, but “there will be an initial payment of 60,000 and the other 60,000 as success if the case is won. If the case is lost, the last 60,000 are not paid,” said the attorney.
PLEASE NOTE
- The Attorney General’s Office opened an investigation into Santiváñez for abuse of authority when he was already a minister, following a report submitted by prosecutor Marita Barreto.
- Colonel Harvey Colchado testified on Monday in this case
- The lawyer from the Caro firm, Miguel Francisco Ávalos, is already participating in the proceedings in defense of Santiváñez.
