Peru: President Castillo impeachment moves forward

PERU - In Brief 01 Dec 2021 by Alfredo Thorne

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On November 25th, congress member Ms. Patricia Chirinos from Avanza Pais party started an impeachment process against President Castillo. According to the constitution the impeachment takes three phases. First, and with 26 congressional votes, the process is started; second, with 52 congress members supporting the initiative, the president has to attend congress and defend himself; and finally, congress needs two-thirds majority to impeach the president. Initially we disbelieve the probability of such an event and felt that opposition political parties could not get the 87 votes needed for the two-thirds majority.However and, as we explained in our latest report, President Castillo's greatest risk is himself. This morning a nationwide newspaper reports that there are 50 congress members supporting the impeachment and are short of two to make President Castillo stand in congress on December 7th. First, the General Prosecutor office found US$20,000 in President Castillo's secretary, Mr. Bruno Pacheco, bathroom and press speculate that was dirty money; and on Sunday, a TV channel followed President Castillo arriving at 11pm at a house he uses for private meetings. He was spotted meeting with a woman that represents a government contractor that had been awarded a construction contract for PEN250 million. Moreover, the press has followed this woman for several months and she had meetings with several government officials in charge of awarding the project and the press speculate that the president may have directed the project.It is likely that on December 7th, when congress is due to vote the impeachment initiative, the opposition would get the 52 votes needed for President...