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LatinNews Daily - 26 November 2021

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PERU: Opposition presents motion of impeachment against Castillo

On 25 November, right-wing opposition parties in Peru’s congress presented a motion of impeachment against President Pedro Castillo.

Analysis:

The impeachment motion accuses Castillo of “moral incapacity” – the same offence that was used to justify the impeachment of former president Martín Vizcarra (2018-2020). It was widely expected that the opposition would at some point seek to remove Castillo from office, with right-wing deputies regularly calling for his impeachment over the course of his scandal-ridden first four months in office. As things stand, the three parties whose members signed the impeachment motion lack the numbers to force an impeachment trial, and Castillo seems likely to avoid that fate. Nonetheless, all eyes will be on the centre-right parties that did not sign the motion but which have been broadly critical of Castillo; if they move decisively against the president, an impeachment trial could ensue.

  • The motion of impeachment was presented after it gained 28 signatures, making it eligible for debate in Peru’s 130-member unicameral congress. For the motion to trigger a full impeachment trial, it would require the approval of 52 legislators. Removing Castillo from office would then require the backing of 87 legislators.
  • The motion accuses Castillo of the impeachable offence of “moral incapacity”. It highlights alleged campaign financing violations by Perú Libre, the far-left party on whose ticket Castillo won office; the appointment of cabinet ministers alleged to support or to have been members of the Maoist guerrilla group Sendero Luminoso (SL); influence peddling in the military; “weakening of democracy by strengthening relations with anti-democratic governments such as Venezuela; “mistreatment of the media”; and the alleged enabling of violence against women by appointing ministers accused of domestic abuse.
  • The motion was signed by deputies from the right-wing opposition parties Fuerza Popular, Avanza País, and Renovación Popular.
  • Castillo yesterday acted unconcerned by the impeachment motion, saying that he is “not worried about the political noise because the people have chosen me, not the mafias or the corrupt.” He urged the opposition to “sit down and talk, to leave behind the useless confrontation that does so much damage to the country, to our teachers and to our children, who are expecting us to be there for them.”
  • Verónika Mendoza, the leader of the Juntos por el Perú party which is allied with the Castillo administration, said that the impeachment motion “demonstrates a coup-mongering, authoritarian and antidemocratic attitude, against which it is vital that all the democratic, political and social sectors remain firm… They are not seeking the impeachment of President Castillo, they are seeking to destroy democracy.”
  • The efforts to impeach Castillo are likely to inflame already virulent political tensions in Peru. Yesterday, the attorney general’s office opened an investigation into the far-right group ‘La Resistencia’, in relation to an alleged attack on the home of Yonhy Lescano, the defeated candidate for the centre-left Acción Popular in this year’s election. Lescano tweeted that the group “physically attacked my family with sticks”. La Resistencia swears loyalty to defeated Fuerza Popular candidate Keiko Fujimori, who has sought to delegitimise Castillo by claiming that she was the true winner of the election.

Looking Ahead: No date has yet been set for the debate of the impeachment motion. The three right-wing parties whose members signed the impeachment petition have 43 deputies between them, falling short of the 52 votes that would be needed to trigger an impeachment trial. Much will depend on whether the calls for impeachment gain traction with the centre-right Alianza para el Progreso (15 seats) and Podemos Perú (5 seats).

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