From Lima
The founder and general secretary of the party that brought Pedro Castillo to the presidency -Perú Libre (PL)-, Vladimir Cerrón, has been convicted of corruption. He has been sentenced to four years in prison for collusion for alleged irregularities in an airport construction project, work that was never carried out. A case that comes from 2014, when he was governor of the Andean region of Junín. The sentence, however, has been suspended until the appeal is resolved. The first instance court decision also includes a suspension from holding any public office for the same four-year period. In PL they have denounced “a persecution” to avoid Cerrón’s presidential candidacy.
There is uncertainty about when the elections will be. They are scheduled for April 2026, but with massive protests demanding the early elections and the departure of President Dina Boluarte, there is a consensus that it is untenable to maintain the current Government and Congress until that date. With elections in 2026 or before, Cerrón would be out of the elections if the sentence against him is upheld. It would be the second time that he would not be able to run for president due to a corruption conviction. In 2021 he couldn’t do it for this reason, so he looked for Pedro Castillo to replace him as PL candidate.
Cerrón was sentenced for having signed a contract as governor of Junín in 2014 with the “Gran Aerodromo Wanka” consortium for the construction of an airport. The budget for the work was 366 million soles (about 130 million dollars according to the exchange rate of that date). He is accused of having signed that contract without taking into account pronouncements against this work by the Ministries of Economy and Transportation, which they considered not justified by the fact that there is already an airport in that region.
“Sentenced for trying to build an airport. Contract declared null, the GRJ (Regional Government of Junín) did not invest a single penny. It is postulated that we would have put the GRJ at risk, reparation of 2 million, disqualification from employment, electoral and exit impediment is imposed. I will appeal,” Cerrón wrote on Twitter.
in dialogue with Page/12, Congressman Flavio Cruz, spokesman for the PL caucus, pointed out that this court ruling “occurs in this context that the elections are being brought forward, the objective is to cut off Dr. Cerrón as our presidential candidate.” He indicated that they had reserved for another time to announce Cerrón’s presidential candidacy, but that in light of this court ruling they were doing so now. “We assume this sentence as a judicial persecution. This is not new. They have already prevented his run for president in 2021. There are no reasons for this conviction. This judicial decision has just been taken, we are going to see what strategies we adopt to respond”.
In August 2019, Cerrón was sentenced to 4 years and 8 months in effective prison for incompatible negotiation during his first term as governor of Junín between 2011 and 2014, for having paid a company 850,000 soles (about 280,000 dollars at the time). ) as compensation for a work not carried out. Cerrón defends himself by saying that the State was to blame for the cancellation of that work and that if it went to trial the payment would have been higher. In the second instance, his sentence was reduced to 3 years and 9 months of conditional prison. Due to that sentence, he had to leave the position of governor, which he had assumed for the second time on January 1 of that year, and was left out of the 2021 presidential election.
In 2021, Cerrón and other PL leaders were denounced for the alleged collection of bribes in the Junín regional government to deliver driver’s licenses. The case acquired political connotation when the judicial process was opened during the second round campaign that pitted Castillo against Keiko Fujimori and it was pointed out that the money from those alleged bribes would have financed Castillo’s electoral campaign. The accusation, so far unproven, was part of the right-wing campaign. This process is still open. Cerrón is also being judicially investigated for an alleged equity imbalance of 6.3 million soles. The PL leader assures that his income is justified by what he receives as a neurosurgeon and the salary he had as regional governor.
Questioned by the accusations of corruption against him and his sectarianism, once PL came to the government, Cerrón distanced himself from the president until Castillo resigned from PL. They maintained a permanent struggle for quotas of power that Cerrón demanded. The general secretary of PL, who defines himself as a Marxist-Leninist, clashed with other leftist groups allied to the government, until that alliance broke up. Last August he pointed to Page 12 that he considered the progressive left his “main enemy” and that to confront it he could join the ultra-right. A position that affected the Castillo government. A year ago, Cerrón expelled the now president Dina Boluarte from PL.