A subcommittee of the Peruvian Congress on Friday approved a report calling for the indictment of President Pedro Castillo of the alleged crime of treason and recommending that he be disqualified for five years, considering that his country could grant Bolivia an outlet to the sea.
“The final report of Constitutional Appeal 219 passed with 11 votes to 10, with 0 abstentions,” said the chair of the subcommittee on constitutional charges, Lady Camones.
But the process will still have to meet other requirements before its eventual vote in the full session of Congress.
Here, the keys to a report approved by the Subcommittee on Constitutional Accusations, which in the next few days will also have to rule on a constitutional appeal filed against the left-wing president by the national public prosecutor’s office (general), for alleged acts of corruption.
1-The process
The decision taken this Friday by the Subcommittee, with 11 votes in favor and 10 against, must now be sent to the Permanent Commission of the Congress, which must analyze it for a period not yet determined and decide whether to approve it to go to the plenary session.
Although some specialists have indicated that this process could still take about three months, the chairman of the subcommittee, the opposition Camones, considered last week that, in fact, it may take about three weeks.
“The Subcommittee will submit it to the Standing Committee where, in turn, it will enter a debate and vote. If it is also approved, the Commission will designate the Subcommittee on Prosecutions to support it in the full session of Congress, where it will also be put to a vote” , Camones explained to the television channel N.
The lawmaker said hearings should be convened in which a deputy delegated to support the prosecution must take statements, including those of President Castillo.
2- Controversial decision
This accusation has generated from the very first time a marked controversies between politicians and juristsas some say that Castillo committed “treason” in holding that the delivery of a sea outlet to Bolivia could be consulted, and others argue that it was just an opinion.
In support of the report, Congressman Diego Bazán, of the opposition party Avanza País, said Castillo told the international network CNN last January that “access to the sea is a right of the country of Bolivia and that he will consult citizens” of Peru on this possible measure.
Bazán said that this “seriously threatens the integrity of the nation” and that Castillo’s demonstrations “are liable to reproach” and affect national sovereignty, since the Constitution establishes that the president’s function is to direct foreign policy, as well as as to celebrate international treaties.
The legislator has also ensured that “at no time is there an attempt to sanction the crime of opinion, but to ascertain whether in his capacity as such (Castillo) he has transgressed the Magna Carta”.
3- What the president says
Castillo acknowledged to CNN last January that he claimed the “sea for Bolivia” at a conference of Latino teachers he attended in La Paz in 2018, when he wasn’t even considering running for president.
“I’m not saying I’m going to give Bolivia the sea. If the Peruvians agree, I owe it to the people. I would never do things that people don’t want,” he said.
Bolivia lost access to the Pacific Ocean during the War of the Pacific (1879-1883), for which it sued Chile in 2013 before the International Tribunal in The Hague to negotiate a sea exit, but the court rejected his request.
Former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000) had already ceded to Bolivia in 1992 a 5-kilometer strip called Bolivia Mar, in the southern port of Ilo, a decision that was investigated in 2010 by Alan García (2006-2011), which renewed, for a period of 99 years, a maritime free zone, without sovereignty, for the neighboring country.
Now, both Castillo’s lawyers and his spokesmen, government ministers and congressmen say the ruler has taken no action to implement his opinion, which is why they believe the charge should be dismissed by Congress.
The Minister of Labor, Alejandro Salas, announced that the Executive will bring the issue to the meeting it will hold with a mission of the Organization of American States (OAS) which will arrive in the country to analyze the crisis, after Castillo requested that the Inter-American democratic charter, considering that in Peru “a new type of coup d’état has begun”.
4- Another complaint
The subcommittee on constitutional charges is also due to rule in the coming days on a constitutional lawsuit filed by Attorney General, Patricia Benavides, against Castillo as alleged head of a corrupt mafia in the Executive.
In particular, it accuses him of being the alleged perpetrator of the crimes of criminal association aggravated by his capacity as boss, aggravated trading of influence and an accomplice in the crime against the public administration in the form of collusion (fraud).
The Executive and Castillo’s defense argue that Article 117 of the Constitution establishes that the president can be accused in the performance of his duties only for four specific cases, including treason or electoral impediment, but not for corruption or common crimes.
Source: EFE
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Source: Clarin
