Peru: Support for Pedro Castillo on Teachers’ Day | A month after his electoral triumph, the teacher awaits his official proclamation

From Lima

This Tuesday, on the occasion of the teachers’ day, there was mobilizations across the country to defend the election of the new president of teacher and trade unionist Pedro Castillo, which the right pretends to ignore. According to the final official tally, Castillo won the June 6 poll with 50.12%, just over 44,000 votes behind right-wing Keiko Fujimori, but a month later the National election jury (JNE) has yet to claim victory. The delay is a consequence of requests for Keiko Fujimori the defeated daughter of the imprisoned expelledr Alberto Fujimori cancel the winner’s votes with the intention of changing the electoral result. Prosecutions without evidence, which were rejected for lack of support by the JNE. But Fujimori’s avalanche of denunciations is delaying the proclamation of the new head of state. Election authorities have assured that the official proclamation of the new president will not go beyond July 15. Professor Castillo is expected to assume the presidency on July 28.

In the street

“Jury listen, people are watching you”, Protesters who rallied on Tuesday in the main streets of downtown Lima chanted. A large banner read “Proclamation Now”, demanding that the electoral jury proclaim Castillo as president-elect immediately, according to the vote count already closed. The slogans of struggle mingled with the Andean music that accompanied the mobilization. “If there is no proclamation (of Castillo as president), a national strike”, repeated the crowd repeatedly.

One group carried a large flag with the inscription “No to the Fujimori coup”. Other flags and slogans have added to the rejection of coup threats from the right, which seeks to ignore the electoral triumph of leftist Castillo. A woman raised above her head with both arms a sign in which she had written: “All the votes have been dealt with, now the corrupt must be dealt with”, alluding to the fact that the votes have already been counted and Castillo is the winner. that now, defeated and without the presidential immunity that she was able to obtain, Keiko Fujimori faces legal proceedings for money laundering and criminal organization.

In the mobilization, there were peasants and representatives of indigenous peoples who traveled to Lima to defend the victory of Castillo, the teacher of Andean origin whose triumph these historically marginalized populations see as justification and hope. There was also trade unionists, students, social organizations, many teachers who celebrated their day in the street to defend the triumph of the provincial and rural professor elected new president.

As in all the mobilizations in defense of Castillo’s electoral victory, the ronderos, organized peasants, had an important presence. The peasant rondas are an organization created to defend their land and administer justice in their communities. Before running for president, Castillo, in addition to being a teacher, was a patroller in his native province of northern Chota.

“I am a chef de rondero de Chota, Castillo is part of this tour. Castillo is humble, simple, a teacher and peasants who represent the people. We are here to defend your triumph. We will help him rule. It will be the first government of the people, hence the desperation of the power groups. The Electoral Jury can no longer delay the proclamation of Castillo, a month has already passed in this wait. Castillo’s triumph is very clear. We don’t say it, the votes say it, many other countries, the international press, “he said. Page 12 Víctor Vallejo, leader of the peasant rounds, walking through the streets of Lima with a large group of ronderos.

Some blood

As slogans were heard demanding that Castillo’s electoral victory be formalized and rejecting threats of a right-wing coup, the rondero leader issued a warning: on July 15, as he announced he will , so the city will rise. And unfortunately blood will flow. We will not let this victory be stolen from us. ”

A few meters away, a woman held up a sign saying “I am a teacher, not a terrorist”. He revealed to us that with this same poster, he participated in previous mobilizations in defense of the triumph of Professor Castillo. “Colleague Pedro Castillo was attacked, claiming he is a terrorist and this greatly offended all the teachers. Hence my poster. Teachers are not terrorists and we do not accept being called that. As a teacher, I am proud that people see that on Teacher’s Day, which for us is a day of rest, we are in the streets fighting for this Peru to change, defending democracy. It’s great that we have a teacher as president, it has never happened before. Let them see that a teacher can lead and not continue to minimize us, ”Marlene, a teacher in a school in a popular district of Lima, told this newspaper.

Manuel Fernández, union leader of a ceramic factory, said Page 12 who had taken to the streets “to defend the popular vote”. “The people have already expressed their desire for change by voting and we are defending this vote here. We also demand the defense of the rights of the working class. In a Castillo government, subject to pressure from the business class, these rights will only be defended to the extent that the working class is mobilized ”.

The mobilization was peaceful, but at one point there was a clash with the police when protesters broke a police cordon to reach Congress. Parliament Square was enclosed by metal fences. These days, in Congress, a chapter of right-wing coup plans against Castillo’s electoral victory is playing out.

constitutional Court

The right that dominates the current Congress, of which Fujimori is a member, has accelerated the process to appoint six of the seven members of the Constitutional Court (TC), who had expired, ignoring an agreement, before ending their mandate at the end of the month. to leave this task to the new Congress.

The objective is to have a TC accessible to the interests of the law. The request that a former supreme judge close to Fujimori made to a constitutional court to quash the elections was rejected for lack of support, but it could be appealed to the TC, which would have the final decision. On the right, they want the case to be examined by a TC at their convenience and that is why their eagerness to rebuild the highest court in the country with magistrates linked to this right. Various jurists agree that the hasty process of selecting TC candidates, all aligned with conservatism, was marred by irregularities and illegalities.

Because of these considerations, a court on Tuesday ordered to stop the process of appointing new TC magistrates, but in Congress they said they would break the court order and continue the vote scheduled for Wednesday. and Thursday.. Two-thirds of the votes are needed to elect each of the new constitutional magistrates. If they are successful, the new TC would be a risk to the stability of the Castillo government and to democracy.