Castillo’s first act as virtual president | He said he was the elected president and called for unity

From Lima

Pedro Castillo (Photo), the rural professor and trade unionist who won the presidential election but has not yet been officially proclaimed president-elect because the electoral jury has not finished settling the demand, without support, of his rival, the right-wing Keiko Fujimori, to cancel the winner’s votes to flip As a result, he participated this Friday in his first public event as virtual president. He did so by calling for unity at a time when the right is intensifying polarization and threatening democracy by promoting the annulment of elections won by the left. Castillo traveled to Cusco, in the southern Andes of the country, where he won the elections by a large majority, to participate in an event on decentralization with regional governors. He said it was an “elected government”, but wanted the electoral jury to “say its last word” to act fully as such.

“The people need the widest possible unity. In this journey, there are no more losers or winners, today we are one family. We must all unite our shoulders to put an end to the big problems, such as the pandemic and the big inequalities that the country is experiencing, ”he told reporters before attending the event. Then, in his address to the governors, he will repeat the message of unity.

He assured that his will would be a government “which thinks and feels like the people”. “Peru needs the people to be heard. The first thing we have to tackle are the big problems, the big inequalities ”. He announced that his administration would prioritize health and education, “which should be a right and not a business,” as well as agriculture. “We must have an austere government. They won’t see us steal a penny from this city, ”he suggested.

“When you go out to make a proposal, they tell you a terrorist, a Chavist, a Communist, that you are going to take their money from the investors, that you are going to scare the economy away, that you are going to take away their property, their house. , their land. This is all wrong, “he said, alluding to the dirty war against him.

While Castillo meets the authorities, social organizations, unions, thinking of his next government, which should start on July 28, the right continues to maneuver to ignore its legitimate electoral victory, in an attitude of increasingly coup d’etat. more open. Fujimoristas armed with sticks attacked a group of Castillo supporters who were carrying out a peaceful vigil in front of the premises of the electoral jury.