The Marxist-Leninist Peruvian Free party, which had dedicated Pedro Castillo to the presidency, will now be in opposition, the leader of the parliamentary bank announced this Thursday (30), increasing the government’s isolation.
Castillo, in turn, renounced his militancy in Free Peru, which the party leaders had demanded two days earlier, under threat of expulsion.
“We are certainly not a government group,” said MP Waldemar Cerrón, the leader of the group and brother of party leader Vladimir Cerrón. As an expression of this new position, the congressman predicted that parliament would vote today in favor of censoring Home Secretary Dimitri Senmache.
By 78 votes to, 29 to, and 8 abstentions, Congress passed a motion of no confidence compelling Senmache to dismiss him. Free Peru contributed 11 votes (out of the 16 votes it had) to dismiss the minister.
Cerrón argued that the Peruvian Free would act as a “propositional opposition” rather than the “blocking opposition” of right-wing parties that dominate Congress. We will not be a substitute to oppose for the sake of opposition,” he said.
Differences between Free Peru and Castillo deepened last Tuesday, after the president finally took a step Thursday after the party asked him to “irreversibly” renounce his militancy.
“I submitted it to the National Electoral Court” [JNE, na sigla em espanhol] I irrevocably waive my membership in the Peruvian Free political party. Such a decision stems from my responsibility as president of 33 million Peruvians,” Castillo said on his social media account.
“I respect the party and its foundations established in the 2021 election campaign,” he said.
Free Peru accuses Castillo of failing to implement the party’s program or fulfilling its election promises, and vice versa, of “executing the lost neoliberal program”.
Vladimir Cerrón, a Cuban-trained doctor, tweeted that the decision was “an agreement that was unanimously accepted by the Party, the Political Commission and the Bench.”
The conflict between Peruvian Livre and Castillo comes as a congressional commission investigating the president for corruption proposes a constitutional indictment against him, which could lead to a demand for his removal from his post, which he held for 11 months.
Free Peru accuses Castillo of undermining the party’s “unity and discipline” after the seat of government was split into three blocs. The party currently has only 16 of 37 parliamentarians it won in the 2021 elections, making it the main minority in a Congress where no party has a majority.
Castillo, a 52-year-old rural teacher, was the presidential candidate of the Peruvian Free party, which he joined as a “guest candidate” in September 2020.
source: Noticias
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