Castillo’s last try, and the economic impact of the political crisis
It was not difficult to project that Pedro Castillo’s main challenge as president would be to forge a credible government. Castillo was encouraged by Perú Libre party General Secretary Vladimir Cerrón to run for president, but neither man held high expectations of Castillo succeeding. Close inspection of Castillo’s first Cabinet indicates that he’d tried to form a coalition with the party that led him to power, Perú Libre, with the support of the other leftist party in Congress, Juntos por el Perú (now Nuevo Perú ).
But these two parties were ideologically completely different: the most recent political crisis has confirmed the widely-held opinion that Castillo has little in common with either party. Recently resigned ministers have denounced Castillo as appointing loyal family and friends from his hometown of Chota who were attracted to the corridors of power, rather than appointing politically experienced advisers. Critics argue that the president pays more attention to these homegrown advisers than to his own ministers.
Against this backdrop, it was not hard to foresee a rough start for Castillo. However, few anticipated the recent chaos and rapid erosion of support. Only six months into his term, Castillo last week appointed his fourth Cabinet. While the start to Castillo’s presidency was therefore perhaps inevitably difficult, his political mistakes have been grave. Against all received political wisdom, he has made no attempt to reach out to the opposition.
In fact, he decided to challenge the status quo. While the end-January political crisis was ostensibly prompted by a disagreement between the president and former Interior Minister Avelino Guillén over police appointments, as we have documented in previous reports, trouble was brewing much earlier. That Guillén, having been a public prosecutor himself and perceived by many to be a champion of integrity in public life, had denounced a culture of corruption in the police force, held special meaning for the moderate left and for Nuevo Perú.
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