Peru: the standoff between President Castillo and Congress reaches its climax
The President of the Peruvian Congress, José Williams Zapata, in plenary session for the impeachment of President Pedro Castillo in Lima on December 7, 2022. AFP - ERNESTO ARIAS
Text by: RFI Follow
4 mins
In great difficulty, the Peruvian head of state has just rocked.
While the unicameral Parliament was going to meet to debate a motion to dismiss him, Pedro Castillo quite simply ordered, this Wednesday, December 7, his dissolution of Congress and the establishment of an "exceptional government".
The vice-president denounces a "coup d'etat".
Freshly dissolved, the Congress nevertheless met to vote for the vacancy of the Presidency of the Republic.
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Total uncertainty in Peru: "
national curfew from today
", between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m., said the president.
People "
in possession of illegal weapons
" now have 72 hours to return them.
The judicial system, the judiciary, the public ministry, the National Council of Justice, the Constitutional Court are declared in reorganization.
Hours before the Congress of the Republic of Peru met in Lima to debate a motion to impeach President Castillo, the latter took the lead in a message to the nation.
And to proclaim, nothing less, the “
temporary
” dissolution of the said Congress, the establishment of an “
exceptional emergency government
” and finally the establishment “
as soon as possible
” of a Constituent Congress.
In the mind of the Head of State, between now and the drafting of a new Constitution by the said Constituent Assembly, therefore, "
within a period not exceeding nine months
", he specifies, "
the government will be governed by decree-law
”.
This intolerable situation cannot continue, and that is why, in response to the demands of the citizens...we have decided to establish an emergency government aimed at restoring the rule of law and democracy.
Mr. Castillo guarantees it: the national police "
will devote all its efforts to the real and effective fight against crime, corruption and drug trafficking, for which it will be provided with the necessary resources
".
Straight as an "i", he calls on the institutions of civil society "
to support these decisions that will allow us to put our country on the path to development
".
This will not protect him from being accused of a coup.
Congress Strikes Back
The Peruvian Parliament is dominated by the right.
Pedro Castillo, he is the president of a Peruvian left rolled by his past by the reign of Alberto Fujimori, at the time still painful of the Shining Path.
The right hoped this Wednesday to debate in Congress a new motion to dismiss the head of state for "
permanent moral incapacity
".
Going beyond her statements, that's what she finally did.
The dismissal of Mr. Castillo was thus approved by 101 congressmen out of 130. The vote took place after the declaration of the latter to the nation, at the headquarters of Congress, broadcast live on national television.
The Vice-President of the Republic, Dina Boluarte, also ignored the wishes of Pedro Castillo.
She denounces indeed "
a coup d'etat which aggravates the political and institutional crisis that Peruvian society
".
The Peruvian nation will have to "
overcome
" this ordeal "
by strictly respecting the law
", she pleads, on Twitter.
According to the interpretations, Mr. Castillo could be accused of having violated Article 117 of the Constitution.
"
It's a coup doomed to failure, Peru wants to live in democracy
", attacks Francisco Morales, president of the Constitutional Court, on RPP radio.
“
No one owes obedience to a usurping government.
»
#CongresoInforma |
Session of the #PlenoDelCongreso.
https://t.co/Z9Uwzc3rED
— Congreso del Peru 🇵🇪 (@congresoperu) December 7, 2022
Chronic political crisis
Debate on the motion was originally scheduled for 3 p.m. Lima time.
The right hoped to gather 87 votes out of 130, the opposition having about 80 seats.
Mr. Castillo had already escaped two motions, the last in March.
Pedro Castillo, from poor and rural Peru, a teacher by trade, is accused by his detractors of having intervened in a case of alleged corruption operated by his entourage, and also of "treason".
The trade unionist has indeed declared himself open to the organization of a referendum to allow neighboring Bolivia, landlocked by the wars of the past, to finally obtain access to the Pacific Ocean of which it remains deprived.
He is also blamed for the repeated ministerial crises of his mandate, with the formation of four governments in eight months, an unprecedented situation in a Peru yet in chronic political crisis.
This Wednesday is the sixth time that a motion to impeach the president has been approved in congress, always for the same reason, since 2017, after Pedro Pablo Kuczynski in 2018 and Martin Vizcarra in 2020.
In 2020, violently repressed demonstrations had taken place (two dead and a hundred injured).
Lima had known three presidents in five days.
Then Mr Castillo narrowly beat Keiko Fujimori, daughter of Alberto, in 2021.
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Peru
Pedro Castillo