Peru: with Alberto Fernández as a witness, Pedro Castillo takes the oath and announces a constitutional reform

President Alberto Fernández attended, this Wednesday, July 28, the swearing-in ceremony of the new president of Peru, Pedro Castillo, in Lima, during a ceremony in which he announced that he would send Congress a bill to reform the Constitution.

After declaring that Peru cannot be “condemned to remain a prisoner” of the Constitution promulgated in 1993 by then-president Alberto Fujimori, Castillo announced that “We are going to present to Congress a bill to reform it which, after being debated by Parliament, we hope that it will be approved and then put to a popular referendum.”.

Who is Pedro Castillo, the “first poor president” of Peru

“I swear by God, by my family, by the peasants, by the indigenous peoples, by the ronderos, fishermen, professionals, children, adolescents, that I will occupy the function of President of the Republic in the period 2021 -2026. I swear by the people of Peru, by a country without corruption and by a new Constitution “Castillo said.

Immediately, Congress leader, opposition María del Carmen Alva, placed the two-tone presidential sash on her during a ceremony held in Parliament in the presence of King Felipe VI of Spain, former Bolivian President Evo Morales and Chilean Sebastián Piñera.

Alberto Fernández and Cristina Kirchner congratulated Pedro Castillo on his victory in Peru

Constitutional reform, a campaign promise

Castillo’s campaign proposal to change the current constitution, which promotes economic liberalism, was rejected by his main electoral rival, right-wing candidate Keiko Fujimori, daughter of the former president, and other political opponents. “We will have to reconcile the positions with the Congress”, Castillo, whose party Free peru it has only 37 of the 130 parliamentary seats.

“Announcement that we will present to the Congress of the Republic, scrupulously respecting the constitutional reform procedure provided for in Article 206 of the current Constitution, a reform bill which, after having been analyzed and debated by Parliament, we hope to be approved and then submitted for ratification in a popular referendum, ”Castillo said in his first message to the country as head of state.

As President of Peru, Pedro Castillo will face a divided country

Castillo said that the current Constitution “does not emanate from the will of the people”, by mentioning that it allows foreign companies in the mining sector to conclude contracts in which the state is at a disadvantage. “This is one of the main reasons that obliges us to seek a new Constitution which, among other things, allows us to adapt the contracts [con las mineras] to the changing circumstances of the international market, guaranteeing state revenues, ”he said.

Former rural schoolteacher who promised to be the “first poor president” of PeruCastillo also declared that he would not govern the Palacio de Pizarro de Lima, seat of the executive power, since he plans to transform it into a museum, and declared that at the end of his mandate he would resume his “functions of ‘usual teaching’.

“I will not rule from House Pizarro, because I think we have to break with colonial symbols. We will hand over this Palace to the new Ministry of Cultures so that it can be used as a museum that shows our history, ”he announced. “During the election campaign, we said we were going to expropriate. It’s totally wrong order, ”he said.

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