With 67 votes against, 42 in favor and 3 abstentions, the plenary session Congress of the republic rejected the president’s request Pedro Castillo Terrones to be allowed to travel to Gustavo Petro’s inauguration in Bogotá, Colombia.
The arguments put forward by the parliamentarians from different benches, whose position was contrary to giving him permission to travel to Colombia, was based on the fact that Castillo had to face the political crisis of the government, after the resignation of Prime Minister Aníbal Torres and the uncertainty before cabinet reshuffle.
Likewise, a good part of the legislators maintained that, given the allegations of corruption against Castillo, he is not in the capacity to represent the country abroad. It was even said that there could be a danger of the president’s flight.
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In that sense, they agreed that Castillo should send Vice President Dina Boluarte or his Minister of Foreign Affairs, César Landa, to said protocol act.
This was the position of groups such as Avanza País, Popular Renewal, Popular Force, Alliance for Progress and a sector of Popular Action.
On the other hand, parliamentarians from caucuses such as Peru Libre, the Bloc Magisterial and Peru Bicentenario indicated that the argument of the investigations against the head of state cannot be a reason to deny him leaving the country for Gustavo Petro to take over. in Bogota. Likewise, they rejected the possibility that Castillo Terrones would not return to the country and reminded Fujimori that former President Alberto Fujimori left the country and resigned by fax.
The parliamentarians did not believe it was convenient for Castillo to leave the country due to the five complaints against him. Photo: composition LR / Presidency of Peru
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Interventions
Legislator Adriana Tudela (Avanza País) was the first to intervene to oppose the trip. “The evidence and indications that implicate the president in acts of corruption are overwhelming and abundant; and in this context the danger of escape becomes more and more real”, said.
For her part, parliamentarian Katy Ugarte (Bloc Magisterial) considered that Congress should vote in favor of granting permission to travel to Colombia, given that the president is collaborating with justice.
“I don’t see why there should be any opposition, because the president has been collaborating with the investigations that the Prosecutor’s Office has opened against him, he would never flee the country like other presidents have fled and resigned via fax,” he said.
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For his part, Congressman Eduardo Salhuana (APP) appealed to the country’s political crisis to argue his vote against.
“There is a moral crisis due to the investigation processes, there is a cabinet crisis, governance and also public management. That crisis has to be addressed. We believe it is vital that President Castillo remain in Peru.” manifested.
During the debate, Guido Bellido (PL) affirmed that the investigations against Castillo are not reasons to prohibit him from leaving the country.
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“The president has the right to represent the country at this time. The argument is that he is under investigation and that is not a sufficient reason to be able to prohibit him from representing the country, besides you shouldn’t be thinking suspiciously: what if he doesn’t come back, what if he does come back. The president is not used to that.” Bellido emphasized.
Meanwhile, the ungrouped parliamentarian Edward Málaga affirmed that Castillo is incapable of representing the country abroad due to his links with acts of corruption and his lack of preparation. “Here we are discussing whether it is morally and ethically correct for a president involved in such serious acts of corruption to represent us abroad. Every time the president has gone abroad to represent us, he has not done so with the dignity and decorum that his high office deserves. Quite the contrary, his lack of preparation, his unfortunate outbursts make us see that the president does not represent us but that he is incapable of representing us with the quality that he should, ”he said.
Kelly Portalatino (PL) also rejected that President Castillo wants to take advantage of the trip to request asylum.
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Unprecedented since the return to democracy
Although Alejandro Toledo, Alan García, Ollanta Humala, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski and Martín Vizcarra endured fierce opposition in Congress, they were never prevented from leaving the national territory. With this decision of the Plenary, in the current five-year a new negative record is broken with regard to the exercise of the presidency of the republic. In June, Pedro Castillo became the first acting president with a preliminary investigation opened in the Public Ministry.