Pedro Castillo asked political and social leaders this Thursday to start a process of dialogue to put an end to the political crisis in Peru. Meanwhile, Congress is preparing to discuss a new impeachment motion against the president, the third in the 16 months in which he is in power, for “moral incapacity” to hold office.
The Head of State has called for rapprochement to begin in response to recommendations made this Thursday in a preliminary report by the High-Level Group of the Organization of American States (OAS), following his visit to Peru on November 21 and 22.
“Following the spirit with which I started my government and which is expressed in the recommendations of the @OEA_oficial, I invite the heads of state institutions and the country’s political and social leaders to dialogue and guarantee governance”, via said. Chirping.
The report submitted by the high-level mission to the OAS Permanent Council offered a number of passing recommendations a process of dialogue and a political truce, “while a minimum consensus is reached to ensure governance” in Peru.
According to Castillo, the OAS group has “ratified” that its government, which began in July 2021, “is receiving destabilizing attacks from a political group that to date is unaware of the popular vote and intends to violate it”.
In this context, he called for “rejecting destabilization, wherever it comes from”, since it is time to “provide a quick solution to the needs of our people that have been postponed for many years”.
The president’s Twitter messages came as Congress debated whether to consider a new request to remove the president.
December 7, key day
“The motion has been admitted (for discussion),” announced the head of Congress, José Williams, after the initiative was approved by 73 votes to 32, with 6 abstentions.
The session was attended by 109 lawmakers out of a total of 130. In order for the motion to be admitted to debate, a minimum of 52 votes was required, according to the rules of the Peruvian Congress.
Williams proposed that the plenary decide the fate of Castillo next Wednesday, December 7th in a session scheduled for 3:00 pm local time.
“We want to restore democracy with the vacancy, it is the first step towards an early election and has a spirit of political control,” said lawmaker Edward Málaga, initiator of the motion during his speech in the plenary session of Congress.
“We propose the vacancy of the Presidency of the Republic, occupied by José Pedro Castillo Terrones for having incurred the cause of permanent moral incapacity”reads the text of the motion which aims to remove him from the office for which he was elected until July 2026.
The lawmakers who voted for it mostly belong to the right-wing parties Renovación Popular, Avanza País, Fuerza Popular and Acción Popular and Alianza para el Progreso (center-right).
The 32 votes against come from the left-wing parliamentary bloc.
“I strongly oppose this motion for vacancy because it contributes nothing (…) They will have a Pyrrhic victory today, but in the end this motion for vacancy will not be approved” when it is voted on next week, said the MP Alex Flores, from the left-leaning Peru Libre.
To remove a president, Peru’s constitution requires 87 votes, a number unavailable to the opposition.
This is the third motion to remove Castillo. Last March, the previous one reached only 55 votes. The first motion, which dates back to December 2021, has not been discussed by the plenary session of Congress.
Similar motions led to the fall of former presidents Pedro Pablo Kuczynski in 2018 and Martín Vizcarra in 2020.
The new request comes at a time of growing tension between the centre-left executive and the right-controlled legislature.
In October Castillo denounced “an ongoing parliamentary coup” and asked for the intervention of the Organization of American States (OAS), while the head of Congress, José Williams, accused the president of wanting to dissolve Parliament.
Hours earlier, from Washington, he had recommended the high-level group of the OAS evaluating the Peruvian crisis “a political truce” in the country while trying to “channel a formal dialogue” in society to reach a solution to the struggle between the Executive and the Legislative.
Such a dialogue could be supported by “a third party” or by “international organisations”.
The OAS mission also considers it important that racism and discrimination are addressed within the framework of the “national dialogue” and calls for “the exercise of freedom of expression in a constructive, responsible and impartial way”.
These recommendations will be analyzed in a forthcoming Permanent Council to vote on a resolution on a “100-day truce”, said the Secretary General of the OAS, Luis Almagro, “aware that this is the beginning of a work”.
For this reason, he says, political parties in Peru “should refrain from innovating” and carry out acts that affect “the current institutional framework”.
The pressure also increased last month after Congress began considerations a complaint from the Public Prosecutor’s Office against Castillo, who is being investigated for alleged corruption and asks to temporarily remove him from office.
A 53-year-old rural teacher and teacher’s union leader, Castillo says he is the victim of a campaign to remove him from power.
The Peruvian president racks up six tax investigations against him since he took office.
Since taking office he has lived under the siege of prosecution and the siege of a right-dominated Congress calling for his resignation and has already tried to remove him on two occasions.
Source: AFP
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Source: Clarin
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.