Protest march in Peru against Pedro Castillo’s government

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Hundreds of people marched this Sunday in Lima to protest against the government of the Peruvian president, Pedro Castillo, and insist on his vacancy or dismissal due to the controversy generated by his cabinet of ministers.

At least two mobilizations took place this Sunday in Lima, the Peruvian capital, by groups promoting the ouster of the leftist Castillo and claiming to defend democracy in the country.

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Similarly, a group of right-wing politicians, led by former presidential candidate Lourdes Flores, led protest demonstrations in the southern city of Arequipa.

The largest march in Lima traveled along several avenues to the district of Miraflores, to a central park where a truck was set up for the presentation of several speakers.

The demonstrators were all dressed in red and white t-shirts. They carried Peruvian flags, similar to the demonstrations conducted by former presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori, defeated in the second round by Castillo.

Francisco Diez Canseco, also a former presidential candidate of the Peru Nación party, told the demonstrators that “to talk about the vacancy is to talk about the salvation of Peru.”

He reminded that next 26th, the President of the Council of Ministers, Guido Bellido, will appear before the plenary of the Congress to ask for a vote of confidence to the government and that several parties have advanced that they will give him that vote.

However, Diez Canseco affirmed that “the Congress has the constitutional and moral obligation to vacate Pedro Castillo.”

The businessman and politician added that Castillo “has added to his resume” an alleged charge against him, “that of being morally incapable, with which there is absolute validity to remove him from the presidency of the Republic.”

Several members of the ministerial cabinet have open investigations for corruption and terrorism, and former Foreign Minister Héctor Béjar was replaced last week after claiming that the Navy was the one that initiated terrorism in the country.

Another speaker, former congressman of the opposition Acción Popular party Ricardo Burga asked the demonstrators not to lose interest in their struggle. “We have to prevent communism from settling in the country, we have to prevent foreign ideologies from imposing themselves. We are not supporting a candidate, we are supporting our country, and from here, we are not going to leave,” he expressed.

Burga’s party was pointed out as one of the promoters of the dismissal of former president Martin Vizcarra in November last year, and the former president’s successor, the then president of Congress, Manuel Merino, was also from Acción Popular.

However, Merino was also dismissed and replaced by legislator Francisco Sagasti, who handed over the presidency to Castillo last July 28.