Nicolás Maduro’s evocative take on Pedro Castillo’s sacking in Peru: ‘Harassment’, ‘conspiracy’ and ‘persecution’

One day after the fleeting coup attempted by Pedro Castillo and his dismissal, Nicolás Maduro made a surprising interpretation of the political situation in Peru. The president of Venezuela spoke of “harassment”, “unlimited persecution” and aimed at the “oligarchy” for taking the now ousted head of state to the “extreme of dissolving Parliament”.

Maduro delivered his fiery defense of Castillo this Thursday during the Loyalty and Love Day March for Comandante Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías, in tribute to the founder of the Chavista regime.

He described the former Peruvian president, replaced on Wednesday by his vice president Dina Boluarte, as a “simple teacher”. And he tore that passage from his fervent speech: “When you see what happened in Peru, The Bolivarian revolution is growing!”.

“They elect a teacher, Pedro Castillo, as president. From the first moment they don’t want to recognize his victory, they deny him his victory. In the end, forced by reality, they have to recognize his victory as president,” he continued with his defense closed .

Then he assured that the leader of the Peruvian left had suffered a “conspiracy” and accused the opposition to the oligarchy of dissolving the Congress.

“Once he is sworn in, in July 2021, the conspiracy for a parliamentary coup begins. And the attacks begin, a permanent persecution. Until blow for blow, harassment after harassmentin unlimited parliamentary, political and judicial persecution, they took it to the extreme of trying to dissolve Parliament of Peru,” Maduro said.

“All the circumstances we have seen are oligarchic elites that do not allow a simple teacher to reach the presidency of Peru and try to govern for the people. The big message that the far right sends to popular movements, progressive movements, is “We will not let them rule,” he enthused.

And he added, in a louder tone: “But from Venezuela we say to the far right: ‘You will not return to Venezuela!'”

“We do not interfere in the internal affairs of any country, I’m just reflecting and I hope that the Peruvian people, within the framework of their constitution, sooner or later realize their path to liberation, their path to true democracy,” Maduro clarified.

The situation of Pedro Castillo and the request to López Obrador

Castillo ordered Wednesday to temporarily dissolve Congress and set up a national emergency government, as Parliament was preparing to debate a vacancy motion against him that could have removed him as head of state.

After the measure, characterized by the majority as a coup d’etat and not even supported by his cabinet, he was dismissed by Congress and arrested by the Police Headquarters on the orders of the Public Prosecutor.

A few hours later, Vice President Dina Boluarte became Peru’s first national president, when she was sworn in before the plenary session of Congress.

Peruvian Chief Justice Juan Carlos Checkley has ordered seven days of pre-trial detention for the former president.

Before being arrested, Castillo had a brief communication with Andrés Manuel López Obrador, in which he asked for his help in obtaining asylum in Mexico. This was confirmed by the Mexican president.

“He spoke to the office here so that they informed me that he was going to the embassy, ​​but surely his phone had already been tapped,” said López Obrador, who described Castillo’s firing as a “soft blow”.

The Mexican said he had sought Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard and asked him to speak to his country’s ambassador in Peru, but that a group of demonstrators opposed to Castillo blocked access to the embassy in Lima.

With information from EFE and AFP

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