Crisis in Peru: Pedro Castillo accuses Justice, Congress and Boluarte of a “Machiavellian plan” against him

The new president of Peru, Dina Bolartewhich he presented to his cabinet on Saturday, was accused by the former president Peter Castillofired and arrested for self-coup attempt four days ago, from integrate a “Machiavellian plan” against him together with Congress and Justice. Thus Castillo fueled the marches against the new government, which multiplied within the country.

Through a letter published Saturday evening by Congressman Guillermo Bermejo, the former president who tried to shut down Congress when they were investigating a corruption complaint against him and was arrested, said several people “forced him to take a sample” of blood on Friday. and that they did it again on Saturday.

“Yesterday afternoon a group of camouflaged doctors and a faceless prosecutor forced me to take a sample without my consenteven today, they returned with the same thing for disowning me, for safety and for my integrity,” reads the handwritten letter.

The prosecutor’s office announced Friday that medical examiners would take blood samples from Castillo to do a toxicology test and determine if the former president was under the influence of any substance when he read the speech to dissolve Parliament , proposed an emergency government and proposed judicial reform.

Deputy Bermejo, who released the letter on social networks, suggested on Friday that Castillo “was not within his powers” when he attempted the self-coup and that he could have been “induced”.

“I do not exclude that this Machiavellian plan is led by the national prosecutor, the president of Congress and Dina Boluarte,” Castillo said at the end of the letter he wrote from the place where he will serve a week of preventive detention in Diroès, near Lima.

For the crime accused of Castillo, the 53-year-old rural master who came to power in July 2021, he could receive a sentence of 10 to 20 years in prison.

With the accusation of a “Machiavellian plan”, Castillo fuels the protests of his militants, who have been protesting for three days in a row, especially in the south of the country, where they cut the Pan-American Highway.

Crisis in Peru: protests are intensifying inside the country

Although in Cusco and Puno some organizations have declared an insurrection, and in Lima there are protests every afternoon by a small group of Castillo supporters, the bigger conflict is in Arequipa1000 kilometers south of the country, where they cut the Panamericana Sur highway, and in Andahuaylas800 kilometers from the Peruvian capital, where protesters arrested police officers and there were 20 injured.

“The trend of mobilizations is growing nationwide. There have been marches, checkpoints and clashes in 9 regions. We are closely monitoring the protests, the actions of the Peruvian police and we ask for calm”, said Rolando Luque, deputy defender on social conflicts and governance of the Ombudsman of Peru.

The Ombudsman stressed that they are coordinating the medical care of all the injured, after reporting at least 20 injured civilians and police officers. The Ombudsman’s Office itself also demanded “the immediate release of police petty officer Walter Silvera Obregón”, who was being held by groups of protesters near the main square of Andahuaylas.

Before that situation, the new president Dina Boluarte had launched a request: “I ask for calm and serenity. Dialogue and understanding are imperative”.