From Lima
The extreme right pushes Peru into the abyss of chaos. He redoubled his commitment to a coup against the progressive government that won the elections. Just four months into the presidency of the peasant, rural teacher and left-wing unionist Pedro Castillo, the right-wing accelerates its coup plans by presenting in Congress a motion to remove the president for “moral incapacity”. A request without any serious support, with arguments so weak that they do not fit even in a figure as ambiguous as the alleged “moral incapacity”. The same political sectors that did not accept Castillo’s electoral victory over Keiko Fujimori, that they tried to ignore that electoral result alleging a non-existent fraud, that they tried to prevent Castillo from assuming the presidency and asked for a coup, now they are going for that coup from Congress through the removal of the president to try to disguise it as legality.
Castillo has indicated that behind the parliamentary conspiracy to remove him from the presidency, there are groups that “have accounts with the justice system” and seek to regain power. Keiko Fujimori, head of Fujimori, with a leading role in promoting the parliamentary coup, is accused of money laundering and in the coming months must face a trial with a request for 30 years in prison against her. “They want to undermine the institutionality, they want to destabilize the country. They do not tolerate that a teacher, a farmer, has reached the presidency ”, the president pointed out.
Excuses
The request to declare Castillo “morally incapable” contains arguments as absurd as accusing him of having reestablished diplomatic relations with the Venezuelan government, or allowing the former Bolivian president to Evo Morales enter Peru and meet with political and social leaders. The right wing accuses Castillo of having appointed officials linked to terrorism. Accusing leftist political and social leaders of terrorists is a common practice of the Peruvian right. The former Minister of Labor, Iber Maraví, was accused by the opposition and the media as a “terrorist” based on police reports from 40 years ago that, based on the statements of detainees taken away under torture, accused him of being a member of the Shining Path, the Maoist armed group defeated more than two decades ago.
Other charges to support his alleged moral incapacity is that Castillo would have pressured the military chiefs to favor the promotion of some officers, a complaint made by two generals who were retired and that is under investigation without the matter having yet been clarified, and that he would have tried to favor friendly businessmen before the tax authorities, a fact under investigation that in reality does not involve Castillo but his former secretary, Bruno Pacheco, separated from office when this scandal broke out. The president is also accused of allegedly illegal financing of his electoral campaign with resources from the Junín regional government, which had as governor Vladimir Cerrón, Secretary General of the ruling party Peru Libre, today estranged from Castillo, another fact under investigation, which until now does not directly involve the head of state. Generating economic instability and threatening press freedom due to its criticism of the media and not giving journalistic interviews are other “arguments” that support the accusation against Castillo.
Maneuver
The coup maneuver is signed by 28 congressmen, two more than the number necessary to accept for debate a request for the removal of the head of state. If this motion obtains 52 votes, out of a total of 130, the impeachment process continues, otherwise it is filed. If the accusation is given the green light, Castillo will be subjected to a summary process, which would last about two weeks. For the removal of the president to be approved, 87 votes are needed, two-thirds of the total of the unicameral Congress.
The three extreme-right benches – the main one being Fujimori – that back the parliamentary coup, have 43 votes. They seek to join other sectors in their coup efforts. Calculations estimate that if the impeachment proceeds, it would be highly unlikely that all 87 votes will be obtained for an impeachment. The moderate and center right-wing groups, opponents of the government, have distanced themselves from the coup conspiracy. The extreme right is putting pressure on them.
Patotas
While in Congress they activate the parliamentary coup, in the streets the extreme right unleashes violence against those who do not join their pretensions. The group called The resistance -popularly renamed La Pestilencia-, a strike force linked to Fujimori, he has violently attacked politicians and journalists from the few media outlets that have not bowed to the parliamentary coup. To this violent group aligned with Fujimorism, other violent groups of the extreme right have recently joined, in which retired military personnel have a leading role.
For the extreme right, bent on promoting a coup since the day Castillo won the elections, this is a first attempt, but their coup claims are not exhausted if this time they are not successful in Congress.
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