Embroiled in an escalating scandal over his alleged interference in military promotions, Peru’s defence minister, Walter Ayala, resigned on 14 November. His resignation came after a congressional inquiry had been opened into the replacement of the army’s general commander, José Vizcarra Álvarez, allegedly following Vizcarra’s refusal to promote two colonels close to President Pedro Castillo. With congress’s defence committee having voted to pass its findings to the attorney general’s office, Ayala is now facing the possibility of a criminal investigation. The scandal has the potential to be highly damaging for the government, given the Peruvian Right’s use of scare tactics in this year’s election campaign to depict Castillo as an aspiring authoritarian.
Álvarez, alongside the general commander of the air force, Jorge Chaparro, was replaced in an unexpected overhaul of the military high command on 4 November. No official explanation was given at the time for the commanders’ respective replacements by Walter Horacio Córdova Alemán and Alfonso Javier Artadi Saletti. However, on 8 November Vizcarra claimed to have been fired in response to his refusal to bow to political pressure to promote two colonels – Ciro Bocanegra and Carlos Sánchez Cahuancama – to the rank of general.
Subsequent investigations by the local media found that these colonels work at the presidential palace, and are both from President Castillo’s home province of Chota, in the Cajamarca region. According to a 12 November report by national daily El Comercio, Bocanegra was acting as an unofficial advisor to Castillo, with his own office in the presidential palace.
According to Vizcarra, both Ayala and Castillo’s presidential secretary, Bruno Pacheco (who resigned on 19 November), repeatedly pushed for Bocanegra and Sánchez’s promotion, despite Vizcarra’s insistence that accelerating their rise through the ranks would be a breach of military protocol. Vizcarra claims to have spoken to Castillo about this on 15 October and believed the matter was settled, before being fired three weeks later.
Ayala hung on to his position for nearly a week after Vizcarra made his claims, during which time congress’s defence committee opened an investigation into the defence minister and Pacheco. With Vizcarra stating that he would present the committee with WhatsApp messages proving his allegations, Castillo announced on 14 November that he had accepted Ayala’s resignation. Two days later, the defence committee voted to share its classified findings with the attorney general’s office.
The scandal further adds to the woes of the beleaguered Castillo administration, which, following a 6 October cabinet reshuffle, was still struggling to shake off allegations of sympathies for the Maoist guerrilla group Sendero Luminoso [SSR-21-11]. Claims of irregular meddling in the military could cause problems for any government; for Castillo, the blowback will likely be worse, given that his right-wing rival in this year’s presidential election, Keiko Fujimori (Fuerza Popular), spent much of her campaign portraying Castillo as a threat to the democratic order [SSR-21-09].
Meanwhile, Ayala’s replacement as defence minister, Juan Carrasco Millones, can expect opposition from right-wing parties in congress. A former interior minister in Castillo’s first cabinet, Carrasco attracted criticism in August for holding a salaried position in addition to his job as interior minister.
Juan Carrasco Millones
New Defence Minister Carrasco served as interior minister in President Castillo’s first cabinet from July-October, before being fired in the 6 October cabinet overhaul. Carrasco was briefly investigated by the attorney general’s office in his first week as interior minister for maintaining a salaried role as public prosecutor – the investigation was dropped when he resigned from the prosecutor position. Carrasco has no obvious background in defence, although in his time at the attorney general’s office he worked on several high-profile organised crime cases. After being fired as interior minister he spent the six weeks before his appointment as defence minister working as an advisor to the justice ministry.