CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — The wonderful election of President Pedro Castillo raised hopes of a replacement in Peru’s volatile and corrupt political system, but the impoverished rural teacher and political neophyte found himself so embroiled in impeachment votes and corruption allegations that his presidency was a training in political survival.
The chances of the leftist leader simply achieving a distinctive policy, such as getting a better education or physical care, were initially slim, given his lack of support in Congress, and have evaporated as he focuses on staying in place and losing his family.
In more than a year as president, Castillo survived two congressional votes to remove him, appointed more than 60 ministers in the 19 agencies that make up his cabinet and faced six criminal investigations on charges ranging from influence peddling to plagiarism, one recently seen by a close relative jailed. Investigations are in their early stages and no formal charges have been filed.
Castillo says he hasn’t had “a single minute of truce” since he took over and blames the Peruvian political elite who need him to leave.
“I don’t speak like them, I don’t sit at those opulent tables like them,” he told others gathered in a remote desert community. the decrease in elegance and that the accusations would not “break” it.
But Castillo’s travails stick to a trend in Peru, which recently had 3 other presidents in a week of singleness after one was impeached in Congress and protests forced his successor to resign. Almost every former Peruvian president who has governed since 1985 has been caught up in allegations of corruption. , some imprisoned or detained in their homes. One of them committed suicide before the police could arrest him. Castillo defeated the daughter of one of the presidents, Alberto Fujimori, in last year’s election.
The initial investigations by prosecutors opposing Castillo are the first for a sitting president in Peru, as is the pretrial detention of his sister-in-law following allegations of money laundering.
Peru’s statute does not say in particular whether a sitting president can be investigated for crimes, and for the past two decades, the attorneys general proposed opening initial investigations against three interim presidents. One against then-President Martín Vizcarra opened in October 2020, but the attorney general immediately froze it until the end of the presidential term.
Now, however, there is a new attorney general, Patricia Benavides, who has pledged to go “after the investigation of any criminal act, whether through the toughest citizen or any citizen. “
When he took office, Castillo faced only a fragmented Congress and his own political inexperience, but also a cautious elite disappointed by questionable crusade promises that included the nationalization of key industries.
Castillo, a rural teacher in Peru’s third-poorest district before moving into the presidential palace. His sole leadership delights before he becomes president leading a teachers’ strike in 2017.
This inexperience casts doubt on whether he is the “leader” of the corruption scheme, as critics claim.
“That said, you can’t look at Castillo’s track record and say, ‘Hey, this guy is honest. ‘So how can we put them together?” said Cynthia McClintock, a political science professor at George Washington University who has studied Peru extensively. “I think a part of him doesn’t realize how careful he has to be. it’s not transparent at this point. “
Five of the investigations opposing Castillo are similar to what prosecutors describe as a network of criminals run by the president, involving influence peddling and crime. A sixth investigation accuses him and his wife of having plagiarized his master’s theses about ten years ago.
One case considers a contract won through an organization of entrepreneurs in 2021 to build a bridge. Authorities say an informant claims former Transportation Minister Juan Silva told him last year that Castillo was “happy” when he earned $12,900 after the contract was awarded. Silva is considered a fugitive.
In some other case, prosecutors allege that Castillo, his former non-public secretary and former defense minister sought the promotion of several army or police officers because those moves would bring them money. Authorities say they have statements from former army leader Jose Vizcarra saying he emphasized publicizing the army workers’ corps close to the government.
Authorities suspect Castillo obstructed justice by firing an interior minister who had formed a team to capture Silva and one of the president’s nephews, who is linked to the investigation of the bridge contract.
“Ideally, the president should resign,” Lady Camones, head of Peru’s Congress, said last month. “He asked to do it. . . That would be the ideal scenario. But let’s hope in any case that the assessment is made. through the president. “
In a separate initial investigation, prosecutors entered the presidential palace in Lima last month to arrest Yenifer Paredes, Castillo’s sister-in-law, whom he raised and considers his daughter. They searched under Castillo’s bed and in the cabinets of the presidency. camera, according to a study report received through The Associated Press.
Paredes surrendered a day later. Then a ruling ruled that she could only be detained until February 2025 while the government investigated her alleged involvement in money laundering.
“It doesn’t occur to them to break up the family. It doesn’t occur to them to leave our young people orphaned, a scenario designed with the aim of breaking us,” Castillo said.
Paredes’ lawyer, Jose Dionicio, said prosecutors did not oppose his client.
Historian Charles Walker, director of the Hemispheric Institute of the Americas at the University of California, Davis, said Castillo’s position is a reflection of the entrenched corruption surrounding the government and a relentless opposition that has a sense of squandering power.
“It’s a perfectly depressing storm,” Walker said. It turns out that around him there is a circle of other people who get contracts, who do stupid things, I mean classic, almost classic corruption.
“But on the other hand, you have this right that feels like it’s under siege in Vietnam, that the ultra-left has taken power. . . and there’s this paranoia. I think this almaximum requires a mental explanation at most of its benefits remain intact, the economy of the elites is doing quite well. »