Pedro Castillo has lost his chancellor, implicated by statements on terrorism

The government of Peru had its first victim with the resignation of Foreign Minister Héctor Béjar, hours after opening a bitter controversy over certain statements in February in which he attributed to the Navy the start of “terrorism” in the country, which multiplied the questions of the opposition, which in itself already blamed him for his guerrilla past .

Béjar’s departure came a day after his meeting with President Pedro Castillo and just hours after Chief of Staff Guido Bellido issued a message that predicted the government would have “changes for the running of the country”.

And that the Minister of the Interior, Juan Carrasco Millones, expresses his support for the security forces and his rejection of terrorism and specifies that “Each minister is answerable for his opinions.

Newspaper websites The Republic Yes Trade They report that over the weekend a television channel highlighted statements by Béjar in February, during the election campaign, in which he spoke of the role the Navy would have played in the fight against the Shining Path.

“Terrorism in Peru It was launched by the Navy and this can be shown historically. I am convinced, although I cannot prove it, that the Shining Path was largely the product of the CIA and North American intelligence services. I cannot prove it, but I am convinced of it, ”declared the now former chancellor.

In fact, Béjar’s requests to leave the External Relations Department come before because the opposition questioned its insurgent past from the first minute.

The man

University professor, writer and sociologist, the resigning civil servant was one of the founders in the 1960s of the ephemeral National Liberation Army (ELN) during the dictatorship of General Juan Velasco Alvarado (1968-1975).

Several media have ruled out that Béjar would not go through congressional censorship, who will receive the full cabinet next Thursday 26 and must decide by one vote whether or not to approve the Castillo government.

The Peruvian Navy itself was the first to demonstrate your rejection and warn that this false statement threatens the honor of those who were part of this institution and fought against the Shining Path.

“The Peruvian Navy rejects the aforementioned statement, which is absolutely lacking in truth; it constitutes an affront to the men and women who fought and they continue to fight against the terrorist crime, against widows, orphans and relatives who are victims of this heinous act ”, declared the force.

This morning, as the criticisms of Béjar were occurring, there was a meeting in the Government Palace attended by the Minister of Defense, Walter Ayala, representatives of the armed forces and the former Minister of Foreign Affairs Manuel Rodríguez Cuadros.

When he left, the diplomat he apologized to give details of the meeting he had with the president.

“The only thing I want to stress is that I did not come for an important business and obviously an offer to assume as chancellor would be extremely important and It is not like that“, He said.

Senderist violence

The Civil Association for Transparency, meanwhile, said that one cannot debate how the attacks, the fighting and the wave of violence that hit the country started, a problem he already considered paid by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (CVR), which assigned this responsibility to the Maoist organization Sendero Luminoso.

The Foreign Ministry tried to put Béjar’s words into perspective with a statement in which he complained that the outgoing Foreign Minister’s words were “manipulated, edited, cut and taken out of context” to confuse the government. public opinion and “Obtain censorship from the Minister of Foreign Affairs.”

Carrasco Millones, head of the Interior Ministry, on the other hand expressed his “Full support” to the Armed Forces and the National Police.

“I would like to point out that we will never accept terrorism, drug trafficking or corruption, which is the terrorism of the 21st century; if we succeed in reducing corruption, we will achieve a big goal of looking towards a better future, ”he said, according to the official Andina news agency.

Avanza País MP Patricia Chirinos, for her part, sent an urgent letter to the President of the Congress, opposition MP María del Carmen Alva, requesting the convening of the Spokesperson’s Office. to discuss the action to be taken for the declarations.

Other legislators, in parallel, prepared before the official resignation a request for arrest of Béjar and the spokesperson of the bench of the Popular Force Fujimorista, Hernando Guerra-García, considered that the best thing was that the now old Minister of Foreign Affairs gives “a step aside, to alleviate the crisis it has engendered within the Council of Ministers ”.

Meanwhile, the ruling party, Peru Libre, chose to sack the now former Minister of Foreign Affairs on Twitter with words of gratitude and support: “Héctor Béjar means consequence in ideals and a lot of politics. He is a man of his time, a worthy representative of his generation. As a teacher, he has the respect of thousands of students. As Chancellor, he demonstrated a vocation to achieve a sovereign country. Thank you teacher.”

Telam Agency

PB