While discontent with the new government of Dina Boluarte is growing in Peru, which this Friday was still in talks to form a cabinet after the dismissal and arrest of Pedro Castillo, the publication in the local media of a series of chats of the day of the coup that show how the last hours of the president in power were lived.
Shutting down Congress, imposing an emergency government, ruling by decree, and imposing a curfew for the Castillo government were “an historic day”.
Chats between Castillo’s ministers reveal that the chief of staff Betssy Chávez has been informed of the impending coup and that at the last moment he tried to persuade the rest of the ministers to get on a ship which ended up sinking.
Everything happened with lightning speed on Wednesday, just as Parliament was due to vote on the motion to impeach Castillo. That day the cabinet was to meet at two in the afternoon (the meeting started at three) a analyze Castillo’s defense together before the deputies.
But, as reported this Friday by the newspaper La República de Lima, a WhatsApp message arrived on Wednesday morning that he swerved.
Betssy Chávez’s message reached the ministers’ telephones at 10:46 in the morning, in the group called “Cabinet of the Bicentennial”. There, she alerted a change of plans. “Ministers, go to the PCM immediately”Chavez wrote.
Immediately the then Minister of Health Kelly Portalatino warned that he would not arrive because he was in the interior of the country. “Premier, I am in the Cusco region, fulfilling the commitments of our SPR. I arrive at 2pm,” he said, according to La República.
Betssy Chávez has not accepted the escape. “Understood, Minister. However, today is a historic day. We have to be cohesive. Unity,” he told her sternly.
The now former ministers consulted by La República said that, having seen this message, they assumed it with “historic day” Chávez was referring to the debate on the third vacancy motion that Castillo would have to face. It was not like this. A few minutes later they realized that in fact it was the dissolution of Congress.
Without even knowing what was in the hands of the president, the ministers were arriving at the Presidential Palace: Labour, Production, Tourism, the head of Women and the new Minister of Defense, Gustav Bobbio.
At 11:48 in the morning, the decision was made. And Castillo went on TV to make the announcement just an hour after Chávez’s message warning him that it would be a historic day. The ministers they resigned one by one. And Castillo was left alone.
Now he is in prison, in the same prison where Fujimori served 25 years in prison.
The prosecutor’s office charges him with rebellion and conspiracy, and a high court ruled seven days of preliminary confinement.
If found guilty, this teacher who has promised to reform rural Peru could face sentence of 10 to 20 years of imprisonment.
protests
Demonstrations in several cities have gone from less to more in recent hours and have fueled uncertainty about the feasibility of Boluarte concluding his mandate in 2026, as she announced on Wednesday as she took office.
Protests included violent actions such as the blockade of the Pan-American Highway in the region of Ica and Arequipa using stones, logs and burning tires.
All eyes are also on this Friday at a ceremony of the Peruvian army for the 198th anniversary of the battle of Ayacucho, which marked the end of Spanish colonial rule in Latin America.
Boluarte is to attend that event and give a speech in front of the military, who played a key role in Castillo’s downfall by not supporting the emergency regime he proposed.
Asylum in Mexico
The government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, a staunch defender of Castillo, said Thursday it was holding consultations with Peru’s new government grant him asylum said Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard.
During the series of events that led to his dismissal, the United States and other countries in the region, as well as Spain, condemned his attempt to break the constitutional order and called for the rule of law to be respected in Peru.
López Obrador, the Venezuelan Nicolás Maduro and the Colombian Gustavo Petro, blamed Peruvian elites for “curving”, in the latter’s words, in Castillo since he came to power.
Clarín newsroom with information from AFP and the newspaper La República, from Lima
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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.