A subcommittee of the Congress of Peru approved this Friday a report that calls for indicting President Pedro Castillo for the alleged crime of treason against the fatherland, and recommends disqualifying him for five years, considering that his country could grant an outlet to the sea to Bolivia.
“The final report of constitutional complaint 219 has been approved by 11 votes in favor, 10 against and 0 abstentions,” reported the president of the Subcommittee on Constitutional Accusations, Lady Camones.
But the process must still meet other requirements before its eventual vote in the plenary session of Congress.
Here, the keys to a report approved by the Subcommittee on Constitutional Accusations, which in the coming days will also have to rule on a constitutional complaint filed against the left-wing president by the Attorney General’s Office (general), for alleged acts of corruption.
1-The process
The decision made this Friday by the Subcommittee, with 11 votes in favor and 10 against, must now be sent to the Permanent Commission of Congress, which for a period not yet determined must analyze it and decide whether to approve it go to plenary session.
Although some specialists pointed out that this process could still take about three months, the president of the Subcommittee, the opposition Camones, considered last week that, in reality, it may take about three weeks.
“The Subcommittee will submit it to the Permanent Commission where, in turn, it will enter into a debate and vote. If it is also approved, the Commission will appoint the Accusations Subcommittee to support it in the plenary session of Congress, where it will also be put to a vote” Camones explained on Channel N television.
The parliamentarian said that hearings would have to be called in which a congressman delegated to support the accusation must take statements, including those of President Castillo.
2- controversial decision
This accusation has generated from the first moment a marked controversy between politicians and juristssince some affirm that Castillo committed “treason against the fatherland” by considering that the delivery of an outlet to the sea to Bolivia could be submitted to consultation, and others defend that it was only an opinion.
During the support of the report, congressman Diego Bazán, of the opposition party Avanza País, maintained that Castillo declared last January to the international network CNN that “it is a right of the country of Bolivia to access the sea and that it will consult the Peruvian citizens.” about this possible measure.
Bazán said that this “puts the integrity of the nation at serious risk” and that Castillo’s demonstrations “are susceptible to reproach” and affected national sovereignty, since the Constitution establishes that the president has the function of directing foreign policy, as well as how to conclude international treaties.
The legislator also assured that “it is not sought to sanction at any time the crime of opinion, but to determine if in his capacity as such (Castillo) he has transgressed the Magna Carta.”
3- What does the president say
Castillo acknowledged last January to CNN that he claimed the “sea for Bolivia” during a conference of professors from Latin America that he attended in La Paz in 2018, when he did not even consider being a presidential candidate.
“I’m not saying that I’m going to give Bolivia a sea. If the Peruvians agree, I owe it to the people. I would never do things that the people don’t want,” he said.
Bolivia lost its access to the Pacific Ocean during the War of the Pacific (1879-1883), for which it sued Chile in 2013 before the International Court in The Hague to negotiate a maritime outlet, but the court dismissed its petition.
In 1992, former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000) ceded to Bolivia a 5-kilometre strip called Bolivia Mar, in the southern port of Ilo, a decision that was deepened in 2010 by Alan García (2006-2011), who renewed, for a period of 99 years, a maritime free zone, without sovereignty, for the neighboring country.
Now, both Castillo’s lawyers and his spokesmen and the ruling congressmen affirm that the ruler did not take any action to implement his opinion, for which they consider that the accusation should be dismissed by Congress.
The Minister of Labor, Alejandro Salas, announced that the Executive will take this issue to the meeting that it will hold with a mission from the Organization of American States (OAS) that will arrive in the country to analyze the crisis, after Castillo requested that the Inter-American Democratic Charter, considering that in Peru “a new form of coup d’état has begun.”
4- Another complaint
The Subcommittee on Constitutional Accusations should also rule in the coming days on a constitutional lawsuit filed by the attorney general, Patricia Benavides, against Castillo as alleged leader of a corrupt mafia in the Executive.
Specifically, it accuses him of being the alleged perpetrator of the crimes of criminal organization aggravated by his status as leader, aggravated influence peddling and an accomplice in the crime against the public administration in the form of collusion (fraud).
The Executive and Castillo’s defense maintain that article 117 of the Constitution establishes that the president can only be accused during the exercise of his functions for four specific cases, among which are treason or preventing elections, but not for corruption or common crimes.
Source: EFE
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