This Monday (12), the Congress of Peru voted to withdraw the immunity of former President Pedro Castillo, authorizing the Supreme Court to formally charge him with the crime of rebellion.
Castillo had a seven-day prison sentence after an attempted coup d’état last Wednesday (7).
Amidst the political crisis, violent protests continue in the country. On Sunday (11), two teenagers died and four people were injured during a demonstration in the country.
The act called for new general elections following Castillo’s departure from power. In recent days, hundreds of people have taken to the streets to protest in favor of closing Congress and for the release of the former president.
Also this Monday, the new president of the country, Dina Boluarte, announced that she will ask the congress to go ahead with the next presidential elections.
Find out who Pedro Castillo is, the former president of Peru who attempted a coup d’état
Pedro Castillo Terrones was born in the region of Cajamarca in 1969. He has a master’s degree in educational psychology and began teaching in the province of Chota, in Cajamarca, in 1995.
Until 2017, he was part of the Peru Possível party, founded by former president Alejandro Toledo, who is imprisoned in the United States, after the Peruvian judiciary ordered, in 2017, preventive detention for alleged involvement in bribery with Odebrecht. The accusations were denied by Toledo.
Currently, Castillo is a member of Peru Livre and, as a trade unionist, he was one of the leaders in a teachers’ strike during the government of Pedro Pablo Kuczynski.
The president was accused of being allied with members of the controversial organization Movadef, indicated by the police as the political arm of the Peruvian guerrilla group, something they deny.
Castillo defined himself during his campaign as a social fighter and said in the elections that he would end social conflicts. Free Peru’s secretary general has previously said that he represents the oldest position on the Peruvian left.
In July 2021, Castillo was declared president after a lengthy investigation. Even though he was a candidate who did not have much political capital, he gained visibility in the debates. At the end of the race, he beat former Peruvian president Keiko Fujimori.
However, in early December 2022, Congress accused him of having “permanent moral inability” to govern, for the third time since he took office.
During the session, a motion was also approved to invite the president to exercise his defense exactly on December 7, the day on which the document that could depose the politician would be put to the vote.
It was the third attempt to remove him from office and the fifth by an incumbent president in the past five years.
In addition, Castillo has several tax investigations open for alleged crimes of corruption committed during his government. The Prosecutor’s Office is investigating the former president as the alleged head of a criminal organization allegedly “entrenched” in the Peruvian State to, among other things, award bids and concessions for public works in a targeted manner.
Castillo and his defense, formed by lawyers Benji Espinoza and Eduardo Pachas, have repeatedly denied the allegations. The politician denies the accusations that also involve his family and his closest circle of collaborators.
In the midst of all this, Castillo was forced to reconfigure his cabinet four times in just six months, generating a crisis and political instability in the country.
(Published by Lucas Schroeder, with information from Tiago Tortella, from CNN, in São Paulo)
Source: CNN Brasil
Bruce Belcher is a seasoned author with over 5 years of experience in world news. He writes for online news websites and provides in-depth analysis on the world stock market. Bruce is known for his insightful perspectives and commitment to keeping the public informed.
