Cesar Vallejo University of Peru announced on Thursday that an investigative commission concluded that the thesis of the president of Peru, Pedro Castillo, and from his wife is original and not plagiarizedas reported by a television program.
(In context: Peru’s Prosecutor’s Office opens investigation for ‘plagiarism’ in Castillo’s thesis)
“The commission concludes that the thesis contains a contribution of originality”said the vice-rector for Research, Jorge Salas, at a press conference together with other directors of the private university.
For that reason, the institution will not strip the presidential couple of the academic degree of master he obtained with the joint thesis a decade ago, he added.
This university had announced on May 3 the opening of an investigation after the denunciation of the Sunday program “Panorama” of the Panamericana channel, which claimed that Castillo and his wife, Lilia Paredes, had plagiarized 54% of his thesis, in 2011.
Castillo’s thesis contains “phraseology of common use” and in some chapters there are “coincidences of less than eight words” and in the conclusions “0% similarity“, according to the investigating commission.
The leftist president denied on May 4 that he had plagiarized the thesis, but the next day the Prosecutor’s Office opened an ex officio investigation against him and his wife.
“I reject the malicious accusations (…) about the veracity of the master’s thesis that I did more than 10 years ago”Castillo said then, who affirmed that “this denunciation is of a political nature and is part of a destabilizing plan.”
In Peru there are frequent complaints against Castillo. Even this week, a businessman raised the accusations that he committed “fraud” to win the 2021 elections, something dismissed by observers from the Organization of American States (OAS).
(In other news: Peru: Prosecutor investigates man who bragged about having raped women)
Along with Vice Chancellor Salas, the founder of the César Vallejo University, the opposition politician César Acuña, was also at the press conference. He was also accused in 2016 of having plagiarized a thesis to obtain a doctorate in Spain in 1997, but the case was filed by the Spanish justice system.
Castillo and his wife obtained with their thesis a Master’s degree in Education, with a mention in Educational Psychology. The 52-year-old president, in power for nine months, faces fierce opposition and denunciations from leaders of the radical right, who have presented two “presidential vacancy” (impeachment) motions against him, which failed.
“Vacancy” motions have become customary in Peru and caused the fall of presidents Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (right) in 2018 and Martín Vizcarra (center) in 2020, which keeps the country mired in instability.
AFP
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