President Castillo quashed prime minister over gas nationalization

The Prime Minister had caused a sensation with his expressions on Twitter and in the Arequipa region, where he participated in a meeting with trade unions. Bellido warned that he would call for the nationalization of gas. “No government of the people can back down on this”, he claimed. On Twitter, he wrote on Sunday: “We called the Camisea operating and marketing company to renegotiate the distribution of profits in favor of the State, otherwise, we will opt for the recovery or nationalization of our deposit, ”threatened the chief of staff.

This position, notes the newspaper of Lima El Comercio, opposes what Castillo reported to the OAS Permanent Council last week. The president ruled out expropriations and called for new investments in Peru. Likewise, the Minister of the Economy, Pedro Francke, indicated last August that Camisea would not be expropriated.

Bellido’s comments caused a stir within the executive and across broad political sectors. The majority of ministers, seeking to calm the waters, spoke against Bellido’s. With him the contractions in the office were reflected. The Minister of Justice, Aníbal Torres, told the Lima La República daily that no contract can be unilaterally revised as proposed by the Prime Minister. Torres stressed that this issue was not discussed in the Council of Ministers. This minister is a faithful of Castillo and his nomination was very opposed by Free Peru.

The Minister of Energy and Mines, Iván Merino, had to create a Twitter account to comment. “We are committed to working with all stakeholders, to reach a consensus based on the concrete well-being of citizens “He said with an obvious desire to put on cold clothes. The Health Minister, Hernando Cevallos, although spoke out in favor of renegotiating gas contracts, said “they must first sit down and discuss” the two parts. The VPresident of the Ice Cream and Minister of Social Inclusion, Dina Boluarte, said, regarding Bellido’s statements, whatThe only one who can set the tone for state policy is the president Castillo. “The directives are given by the president of the Republic ”, he underlined.

But in Peru you can never forget the figure of Vladimir Cerrón, undisputed leader of the Free Peru party, who led Castillo as a presidential candidate and with him, he maintains a candidacy for power since before the entry into office of the president. Cerrón, after noticing what was generated by Bellido’s statements, gave him all his support. “That the Camisea gas law contract be renegotiated and that better benefits be recognized for the State. If the company does not agree, is it wrong to take control of the Peruvian field? The state must put things back in order, ”he said from Twitter. Cerrón is a man of the radical left close to the party who is a political arm off Shining Path terrorist group.

Hours later, Peru Libre issued a statement of support for the Prime Minister: “Our support for Guido Bellido because, as the ideology of Free Peru emphasizes, what is the state collects as the annual tax between the gas gun, royalties and income tax for the exploitation of Camisea gas is barely $ 1,135 million, when it should be $ 23 billion of dollars”.

However, This statement did not have the approval of all members of the party congress.. Ruling parliamentarian Katy Ugarte said no one had told her her bench was going to speak. This is not the first time that the spokesperson for this bench, Waldemar Cerrón, has stood out and speaks for everyone. Regarding the nationalization of gas, Ugarte considered that it is a very hasty move.

According to La República, this strategy has become customary in the Peru Libre’s “Dome Cerronista”: the prime minister says something controversial in order to impose Peru Libre’s agenda on the government, Vladimir Cerrón publicly defends it and the bench is also in favor, supposedly on behalf of all lawmakers in government, when in reality it is not.

When the president was tour of Mexico and the United States _ trip that started on September 17th Bellido revealed the meeting between Pedro Castillo and Nicolás Maduro. In addition, he stressed that the position of the executive is to recognize Maduro as the legitimate president of Venezuela. Anyone who does not share this position, he said in provoking Foreign Minister Oscar Maúrtua, has the doors open to leave. Hours later, Cerrón and his followers came to the defense of Bellido.

The same thing happened when Justice Minister Aníbal Torres argued that Cerrón was detrimental to the government. On this occasion, Cerrón protested with a flurry of tweets and the party again issued a statement, who had not been consulted with the bloc’s lawmakers.

For the Republic,this “deployment of Bellido, Cerrón and their dome” is led by the leader of Free Peru who tries, through the Prime Minister, to impose his agenda so that the president does not abandon the “original ideology” of the party.

Corn this line is not supported by the majority of ministers. The recent maneuvers of the Peru Libre leadership since the president’s return to Peru are obvious: first, that the president has gone on tour in Mexico and the United States accompanied by ministers Oscar Maúrtua and Pedro Francke, who are not to Cerrón’s taste, and did not bring any high ranking party leader and also Bellido. To this is added that Vice-Chancellor Luis Enrique Chávez spoke out against Nicolás Maduro, which generated the rejection of Cerrón and Bellido, who defend the Chavist regime.

After in the case of the cremation of the corpse of the deceased terrorist Abimael Guzmán, ministers Juan Carrasco and Aníbal Torres are singled out for having “moved alone”. The Bank Free Peru opposed this measure by Congress.

Another open opponent of “Cerronismo” is Vice-President Dina Boluarte. He has met with the Peruvian Press Council and promises that he will seek to convince President Castillo to sign the Chapultepec and Salta declarations. The Deputy Minister of Social Inclusion wants to replace Bellido.