The Peruvian right is already maneuvering to remove Pedro Castillo | The rural teacher has been in the presidency for less than two weeks

From Lima

The rural teacher Pedro Castillo has been in office for less than two weeks and the right wing is already maneuvering to remove him from the presidency. Parliamentarians from Fujimori and other far-right groups, such as the fascist Popular Renovation Party, have declared open war on the recently launched left-wing government of trade unionist Castillo. They are conspiring for an impeachment of the president by resorting to the ambiguous figure of “moral incapacity”, which leads to the impeachment of him without any other argument than the strength of the votes. Now they do not have two-thirds of the unicameral 130-seat parliament to impeach the president, but they seek to generate a crisis scenario that allows them to join other right-wing and center-right groups. to get the votes they need. The hegemonic media enthusiastically covers those promoting a parliamentary coup. The government’s initial mistakes, such as some contested appointments, gave rise to this coup.

Appointment

Castillo opened a flank by appointing as president of the Council of Ministers the member of the Congress of Free Peru in power, Guido Bellido, questioned by the right, but also by the allies of the government.. Bellido is a figure who confronts and distances possible agreements that allow the government to broaden its base of support. On the contrary, he alienated the first allies. He made homophobic and sexist statements, so his appointment was not well received by the president’s progressive allies. In the face of criticism, he claimed to have changed his mind on these issues and in a statement he pledged to support gender equality policies and the rights of sexual minorities.

The right shoots Bellido for other reasons, and with other intentions. With this McCarthyte language that he exhibited in the countryside, and which now dominates the media, accuses him of being a terrorist, for an investigation that the prosecution has opened for alleged excuses for terrorism – a challenged legal personality who condemns opinions and lends itself to abuse – for statements considered by his accusers as “condescending” with the armed group Maoist Sentier luminous defeated for more than two decades since. It is a common practice of the Peruvian right to designate as terrorists those who identify with the left in order to seek to disqualify them.. They are making the same accusation against other members of the cabinet. YesA is asked to declare the president’s “moral incompetence” and to dismiss him for having appointed as ministers alleged “sympathizers of terrorism”. This is the strategy of the coup d’état.

No honeymoon

“It was a beginning of government without the honeymoon that we are used to giving to new governments. As soon as he took office, Castillo did not let himself breathe. The right and the powers that be, in particular the mainstream press, do not accept Castillo’s electoral victory, do not recognize him as president and have formed a coalition to leave him (remove him from office). The right does not want to lose the government, which has always had it. And there are government service errors, like the appointment of Bellido. The situation is complicated, difficult, ”he stressed to PageI12 sociologist Sinesio López, professor of political science at the universities of San Marcos and Católica.

Bellido is very close to the founder and secretary general of Peru Libre, Vladimir Cerrón, a Marxist-Leninist who attacked Castillo’s center-left ally. Cerrón, who was convicted of corruption for a term as governor, is a complicating factor for the government. It is a target against which the right shoots to hit Castillo. The president oscillates between pressure from Cerrón to accumulate power and his progressive allies outside Free Peru. The ministerial cabinet is the expression of these internal tensions.

“Bellido and Cerrón represent a strategy to face and go to shock, when the balance of power in Congress is not favorable for the government. This strategy of frontal attack, which involves very radical measures and entry into the coup, is wrong. To this strategy is opposed that of making big changes on the basis of the formation of a great collective will, of a great coalition founded on certain consensus. It is one of the most conservative countries in Latin America and it is very difficult for the left alone to govern, it has to build alliances and have an opening towards the center, but from the left to the center, not the ‘reverse, which gives it a special tone. The government must change Bellido and put in his place someone from the center-left to summon sectors of the center, form a cabinet that opens up the possibility of expanding the government coalition, which would weaken the coalition to eliminate Castillo. With Cerrón and Bellido, this opening is cut from the left to the center and put on a radical left. It leads to isolation and defeat, ”López explains. “Castillo has no political experience, but he’s smart and I think he’ll move well eventually. I hope I have the time to do it, ”he adds.

The complicity of the mainstream media

Bellido must ask Congress, dominated by various right-wing groups, for a vote of confidence for the cabinet he heads. If they refuse you, you must resign. Most lawmakers don’t want it, but if they deny trust in two cabinets, the president is empowered to dissolve parliament and call new parliamentary elections. The right wing fears that if they remove Bellido, Castillo will replace him with someone who generates strong rejection to force a second refusal to the cabinet vote of confidence and thus be able to dissolve Congress. Therefore, they could give confidence to Bellido, but operate to boycott the government and seek its downfall. Boycott, destabilization and coup are what the far right is betting on, with the help of the mainstream media.

Of the 87 votes required by the parliamentary coup to remove the president, they would have 43; There are 36 other right-wing groups out of three that oppose the government and demand the change of ministerial cabinet, but which, at least for now, have not joined the open coup; and there are nine other center and center-right parliamentarians who have supported Castillo, but have now moved away from the government to disagree with the cabinet. The coup hopes to add all those votes to topple the government. The ruling party has only 42 seats, 37 for Free Peru and five for its left allies Ensemble for Peru.

Beyond the legitimate criticisms against Bellido and certain other members of the cabinet, for the right which calls for the dismissal of Castillo it is a pretext to attack the president. Today’s coup plotters are the same who failed to recognize the Andean professor’s electoral victory and tried to prevent his rise to power by alleging non-existent electoral fraud. They could not prevent him from assuming the presidency, now they are seeking to remove him from power. Shout “no to communism”, the putschist right is mobilizing in the streets. These are not massive marches, but they are very high profile.

Castillo has become a popular leader who has collected and expressed hopes for change and inclusion. The historically marginalized and dispossessed sectors have identified with the rural and Andean teacher, whom they consider to be one of them, and have found in him this representation which they never had. This is Castillo’s main force in confronting coup intentions.

“Castillo’s power lies in the mobilized citizens. He must tell the people “they will not let me rule” and mobilize them. If he mobilizes the countryside, the provinces, the working-class neighborhoods of Lima, then he can stop the intention of firing him. For that, he must correct the error in the formation of the cabinet, change Bellido ”, indicates Sinesio López.