By Carlos Aznárez, Resumen Latinoamericano, February 15, 2022.
President Pedro Castillo
One cabinet after another seems to be the trend of the current Peruvian government, and meanwhile the right wing does not cease in its idea of removing Pedro Castillo. We talked about this unpredictable situation with journalist Roger Taboada, director of El Puka, one of the few leftist media in Peru.
We are really worried about the situation of political crisis that the country is going through and the disorientation of Pedro Castillo’s government, and on the other hand, the ultra-right offensive that is striving to continue destabilizing the country, in its eagerness to have total control of the state apparatus, which today it does not have. Or it has half control, and has the capacity to take possession of the resources of the country, which after all, is what they are interested in, the wealth of natural resources and decide on them, plundering with impunity as they have done for 200 years.
They would like to have that impunity and that is the reason for their desperation at this moment. This does not mean that Pedro Castillo has opted for a firmer position regarding the defense of the Homeland and the country’s resources. But it is a disturbance for the right wing not to have an unconditional management of the state apparatus.
Pedro Castillo has made several cabinet changes, in one he left aside his party Perú Libre, on the other hand, in another moment he opted for Verónica Mendoza’s people, now, which political option is leaning towards?
Pedro Castillo spoke of a Cabinet of National Unity, of recomposing the ministerial cabinet appealing to the so-called “broad base”, that is to say, summoning sectors of the center-right, including the moderate left, known in Peru as “Caviar Left”. But it has not been so, there was not so much echo in the sectors of the liberal right or in the center-right, represented by the parties Acción Popular, Alianza por el Progreso, Somos Perú or the Partido Morado. They have manifested their resistance to participate in Pedro Castillo’s cabinet and are hesitating between folding to the ultra-right in pursuit of the vacancy or making the last effort to seek greater spaces of the power quota in Castillo’s government. What government we have, it is a motley government where Peru Libre has returned with two minister in the cabinet, and some other independents, there are people from the “caviar left” representing the Ministry of Women, and others that do not even support entirely the positions of the Peruvian left. Neither have they managed to open up to the political center that would allow them greater stability.
There is a position that we are interested in knowing in whose hands it is in and at what level it represents politically, one is the new Premier, Anibal Torres, former Minister of Justice, what does this man represent?
Anibal Torres is a lawyer who has a certain academic prestige, he does not have the greatest expertise in the country but he has earned respect in certain spaces, for being a scholar of some topics related to criminal law. Within his trajectory, he was a member of the Reorganizing Commission of the Dean University of America, and the Mayor of San Marcos. And he was a member during the era of Fujimori, in the crudest and hardest period of his life, when he held the position of head of the Faculty of Law, from 1991 to 1994. He became a fierce enemy of the workers, professors and students. Time has passed, and now he says he is a democrat, but those of us who are linked to university teaching know perfectly well that he was a fierce supporter Fujimori in the 90s. He is a man who is in the presidential environment of the so-called “chotanos” because he is originally from a town called Chota, in the highlands of Peru, where he is also the president, and he heads the radical group of right-wing people of the area who however have a somewhat democratic discourse. In such a way, the Ministry of Justice in half a year has not made any reform to reorganize and improve the justice system, they are the most corrupt in the country. What they have focused on is to generate fissures between Perú Libre and Cerrón and Castillo. He has been concerned in saying that Marxism is on one side and the past is history, and the ideology of Perú Libre does not fit with the current reality, he has been concerned in criticizing and persecuting Vladimir Cerrón. It is about to be proven and there is evidence, and he has also done it with other social leaders in the country on a lower level. It seems that the man has not overcome his Fujimorist remnants but he disguises himself with democratic speeches and the ultra-right itself does not question him because he has a brother who received benefits from the state in the importation of vaccines.
How is that?
They needed refrigeration systems that his brother had and there have been, for the amount of 8 to 12 million soles, we are talking about more than 3 million dollars, when he was Minister of Justice. Although he denies it and says he does not know anything about it, there is no confidence in a man who comes recycled from the Fujimori circles, a sworn enemy of the freedom of Antauro Humala, who should already be free because he continues to be kidnapped for 17 years by the Peruvian state.
Two more posiitions of interest to know: Foreign Affairs was given to Cesar Landa and Economy to Oscar Graham, what changes with this?
Cesar Landa is a right-wing guy, he is a member of the Constitutional Tribunal of an aprista past (linked to APRA), he has not been linked to serious cases of corruption, as was the style with these members of the committee of the Constitutional Tribunal of Peru. He has a certain professional trajectory, I think he will give continuity to the conciliatory policy, a bit of half-measures that Pedro Castillo likes.
Oscar Graham is a technocrat who has come out of the portfolios of one of Peru’s universities, but he does not have much trajectory, nor does he have a recognized political career. What is expected is that he will give continuity to the policy of Pedro Franque, who has not touched anything and has not been able to promote any other type of reforms that would allow the real recovery of the economy, but who chose to give it continuity or what is usually said “to manage the crisis found until today”.
What are the two positions that Perú Libre holds in this cabinet?
In the Ministry of Energy and Mines, a former regional director of the same branch in the Junín region where Cerrón was governor, and the other is in the Ministry of Health, who was also regional health director of Huancayo and the Central Highlands, where Cerrón was director and governor. He has brought two regional directors from Huancayo and put them in place. It seems to me that Perú Libre is opting to claim quotas and space for power, now they are no longer talking about the new constitution, they are not talking about the second agrarian reform, neither about the tax reform, the negotiation of mining, oil and gas contracts, but they are talking about quota of power, participation in the government of positions, and it seems to me that he is falling into that kind of positions, generating distrust in the people that will surely take its toll.
Anyway, this cabinet also has provisional characteristics, because it can be rejected at parliamentary level.
This cabinet has a term of 30 days to grant in Congress what is called “presidential investiture”, they will hardly obtain the support, considering that the Minister of Health is severely questioned by the University of San Marcos, by the School of Medicine, and the Peruvian Medical Association, they accuse him of the illegal practice of medicine, for being a doctor who is promoting the use of natural and alternative medicine. Of course, this is severely questioned by the pharmaceutical monopolies and by the monopolies of the large transnational companies that sell and traffic with health and human life through the sale of pharmacological products. These sectors, of course, do not raise the questioning by political decision and their approach to the right wing.
How does Pedro Castillo manage to govern, because it does not seem to be easy to do it with so many changes of team, and the campaign of the right wing?
There have been 4 cabinet changes in 6 months, and 45 ministers have passed during that time. That is to say, the situation is very unstable and worrisome, there are sectors that have assumed a critical projection or critical support to the government, but they are becoming more and more disenchanted with the President’s actions. There are things that will become clearer in the course of the next few days, but of course we cannot forget that we have in front of us a fierce, fascist, aggressive and voracious ultra-right wing. We do not want to be confused about them, nor even to ignore the positions that they are raising. That is why there is a prudent position, but I believe that this is also approaching a limit.
Source: Resumen Latinoamericano