Despite the wind of protest in Peru, ousted President Pedro Castillo was held in pre-trial detention by the country’s Supreme Court on Thursday.
Source AFP
© JAVIER TORRES / AFP
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Lousted Peruvian President Pedro Castillo was held on Thursday (December 15th) in pre-trial detention for 18 months by the Supreme Court of Peru, while thousands of his supporters continue to demonstrate across the country to demand his release. The ex-president of the radical left has been imprisoned since his dismissal on December 7, after a failed attempt to dissolve Parliament which his opponents described as a failed coup.
The prosecution, recalling that Pedro Castillo had tried to take refuge in the Mexican embassy after his dismissal, demanded that he be kept in detention until June 2024, citing a “risk of flight”. Prosecuted for “rebellion” and “conspiracy”, the ex-president faces ten years in prison, according to prosecutor Alcides Diaz.
“We felt it coming (…) We did not go to the hearing, because we refuse to take part in this masquerade”, denounced the lawyer of Pedro Castillo, Ronald Atencio, announcing that he was going to do call.
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A country under pressure
In the streets, the mobilization of supporters of Pedro Castillo does not weaken despite the state of emergency declared Wednesday for 30 days throughout Peru. This measure allows the army to participate in law enforcement operations. At least ten people were killed during demonstrations, including two on Thursday during a clash at Ayacucho airport (south), according to the Defender of the People (ombudsman) who also counted 340 injured. The police said that almost half of these injuries came from its ranks.
“We demand from the armed forces the immediate cessation of the use of firearms and tear gas canisters launched from helicopters,” the Office of the People’s Advocate said in a statement. The most virulent demonstrations took place in the south of the country, where five airports remain closed (Andahuaylas, Arequipa, Puno, Cuzco and Ayacucho). More than a hundred roads are blocked by protesters across the country, and the train to the famous site of Machu Picchu has stopped running, leaving several hundred tourists stranded.
“We have to fight. The president is Pedro Castillo,” Milagros Quispe Diaz told Agence France Presse, who was heading towards the outskirts of Parliament where daily rallies have been held since the dismissal of Pedro Castillo by deputies. Many police and members of the armed forces were visible Thursday evening in the center of Lima. “We need an energetic, authoritarian response” to the violence, launched Defense Minister Alberto Otarola, stressing that the state of emergency included “the suspension of freedom of movement and assembly” with “possibility of cover- fire “.
An advanced electoral calendar
In front of the police barracks where Pedro Castillo is being held, in Até (east of Lima), many of his supporters are camping and demanding his release. His niece, Vilma Vasquez, 42, denounced to the press the absence of “justice”. “From the first day he took office and even more during the campaign, we were already terrorists. The day President Castillo took office, they wouldn’t let him rule, we were thieves, we were corrupt. There is no justice,” she said.
Camp Castillo’s opponents say some of its support comes from Movadef, the political wing of Shining Path, the Maoist guerrillas that killed thousands in Peru in the 1980s and 1990s. They call them “terrorists.” “. The power is trying to enforce order by force but also to appease discontent by acceding to some of the demands of the demonstrators.
The new president Dina Boluarte, former vice-president of Pedro Castillo who came to power after the latter’s dismissal, has announced that she wants to bring the electoral calendar forward again “to December 2023”. Dina Boluarte, who crystallizes part of the discontent in her person, had already pledged on Sunday to advance them from 2026 to April 2024, without stopping the protests. She herself is affected by the measure: her mandate theoretically runs until 2026, Pedro Castillo having been elected in 2021 for five years.