Yenifer Paredes, the daughter of Pedro Castillo, wrote a letter to the Argentine lawyers Eugenio Zaffaroni and Guido Leonardo Croxatto to ask for your help in the release of the former president, currently detained on the farm Barbadillo.
Zaffaroni and Croxatto they will assume the legal defense of Castillo in international jurisdictions. For now, Croxatto denounced that, After the publication of this letter in the media, the Penitentiary Institute restricted access to foreign lawyers. They have not yet revealed their strategy, but it is estimated that they will attend the Inter-American Court of Human Rights to question the pretrial detention of the former head of State.
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In the letter, Paredes recounts December 7, 2022: the day Castillo carried out the self-coup ordering the closure of the Congress and the intervention of the other institutions that support the country’s democratic system. It is a detailed and very heartfelt chronicle from when the still president addresses his message, leaves the palace and is stopped on the way to the Mexico’s embassy. We transcribe the literal text, only with some syntax changes.
“My mind has many recorded moments that I really want to forget. I mean December 7th. I don’t know where to start, but what I remember most, at 11:00 am, after listening to the TV message, I went down to see my mother (lilia paredes) who, as she imagined, was praying and her eyes were full of tears and she did not know what to do, ask God for his help. That’s when my father (Pedro Castillo) arrived saying: ‘We have to leave because the Navy are going to come to get us out.’ I got scared and ran to the second floor where I was arnol and my little girl Lark,to whom I said: ‘We have to get out’. We only take personal things and the clothes we had on, “he began.
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“We ran down and our hearts were racing, but the cars where we always transported were outside ready to go and each vehicle with its respective security. My dad made sure that Arnol and I are in the second car and my mom got in the first, Alondra, my dad (I felt something strange because Alondra, Arnol and I always go together in the same car, but this time my dad made sure to take Alondra with him, I think he was afraid) and Dr. Hannibal (Torres) next to them. My dad mentioned to security that we had to leave and we left at full speed, we advanced a few blocks. We were all very nervous, tense. I can’t explain that moment. The truth is that we don’t even know where we were going, we just followed the car that took my dad. For a moment I felt safe because in the end we were all there, I mean my family,” she continued.
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“My gaze was fixed towards the front. I never stopped looking ahead, the truth was I felt relieved to leave the Palace and suddenly I see that they stop and the truth is that I thought it was just a coordination, as security always spoke on the phone, but the minutes passed. I don’t know, people began to say: ‘He’s fleeing to the embassy.’ This is the moment that it hurts me the most to describe and it will be the most painful. I saw two policemen wearing balaclavas pointing their weapons at me and Arnol and asking us to move forward. In truth, I did not understand anything, and security did not say anything, I did not know Lime, Seeing that we arrived at the Prefecture I felt afraid and just wanted to cry. We arrived. Nobody said anything then I saw my dad come down and my soul broke. I knew it was the last time I would see him, I knew because the person in charge of that operation before had arrested me and I know how they work, I was afraid they would do something to my dad, I can only say that in my mind I was saying: ‘He is strong.’ Then we went to take refuge in a friend’s house. After all, we arrived and my mother was in another dimension, she was a little pale and didn’t want to say anything. My surprise was talking to Alondra, I didn’t know what to say, she is a very intelligent girl, but she also felt my pain… I want to forget that day. A few hours passed and Alondra tells us that she saw that they threatened him with a weapon, she was clinging to my dad, she says that he was carrying her between her legs at the moment my dad saw the threat of the weapon. It’s when he mentions: ‘Okay, but no violence.’ Before getting out of the car, my father mentions the following: “I will never betray my people and, if it is for them, I will have to go to jail,” the letter continued.
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“When I talk to Alondra again, I feel her pain with every word she mentions, we carry a lot of pain inside, I feel guilty for so much pain towards my family. I am the oldest and I could not defend them. It’s hard to live thinking about my little Alondra, it’s very bad Mentally, I don’t understand why power can violate all the human rights of an 11-year-old girl. I want justice for my little sister, I can talk about everything illegal that was from the arrest that was made before he was vacated and everything else. I want to tell the world everything they did to us. It is our faith in God and seeing my dad free who wakes us up every day and yesfollow, I can’t explain what it feels like to be a united family and suddenly be totally alone. I have my brothers and my mother in Mexico and my father in Barbadillo. There are days that I don’t want to continue, my strength is gone, but I remember that my father has not spoken to my brothers for two months (without telephone communication because they do not allow him to have calls, when here in Peru you do have the right to a daily call ). We miss my dad so much, please help us,” Paredes said.
“Dear Guido, I have many more things to say and clarify, but if you want we can talk about this in detail, I can’t do it here because it still hurts. Please, I ask you, Don Zaffaroni to help my dad “He is a very good man, he fought for his people every day and sacrificed many things for the good of the country. I know for sure. My family and I beg for your international help, we will be eternally grateful,” he said.
“Blessings,” he said.
“Yenifer Paredes, daughter of Pedro Castillo, president of Peru“, finished.
