The Subcommittee on Constitutional Accusations of the Congress of Peru approved this Friday a report that asks the president peter castle be disqualified for five years and accused of the alleged commission of the crime of treason for having declared that his country could facilitate an outlet to the sea for Bolivia.
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The decision was made with 11 votes in favor and 10 against after a brief session held by the Subcommittee, which is chaired by opposition legislator Lady Camones.
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With the approval of the final report of the complaint against Castillo in the Subcommittee, the document will now be sent to the Permanent Commission, which must analyze it in the coming days before deciding whether to authorizes its eventual debate and vote in plenary. No date for the vote has been set at this time.
This decision is framed in the context of the acute political crisis in Peru due to recurring clashes between the Executive and Legislative branches, for which an OAS commission will arrive in Lima on November 20 to build bridges of dialogue between the two blocs.
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The parliamentary report maintains that Castillo’s statement “would violate constitutional mandates.” However, some experts believe that there is no legal basis to attempt the presidential disqualification for these statements by the President.
Castillo, who took office in July 2021, has survived two impeachment attempts from Congress and faces six tax investigations for alleged corruption.
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The terms of the report
The report was supported last Monday by Congressman Diego Bazán, from the opposition party Avanza País, who maintained that Castillo declared in January of this year to the international network CNN that “Access to the sea is a right of the country of Bolivia and it will consult the citizens” about this possible measure which, he maintained, “puts the integrity of the nation at serious risk.”
He pointed out, in this sense, that Castillo’s statements “are susceptible to reproach” and recalled that, according to article 118 of the Peruvian Constitution, the president’s function is to direct foreign policy, as well as to celebrate international treaties, for which he considered that affected national sovereignty.
Bazán also said that this accusation “does not seek to punish the crime of opinion at any time, but to determine whether in his capacity as such (Castillo) he has transgressed the Magna Carta.”
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The debate on the report, prepared by congressman Wilson Soto, began that same Monday in the Subcommittee, but later was suspended because the Permanent Commission notified that there had been four changes in the members of the Subcommittee.
Three of the legislators changed were from the center-right Popular Action party and one from the Marxist Peru Libre party, in this case legislator Kelly Portalatino, who was appointed Minister of Health last week.
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What did Castle say?
President Castillo acknowledged in January to CNN that he claimed the “sea for Bolivia” during a conference of professors from Latin America that he attended in La Paz in 2018, when he did not even consider being a presidential candidate.
“I am not saying that I am going to give Bolivia a sea. If the Peruvians agree, I owe it to the people. I would never do things that the people do not want,” he noted.
Bolivia lost its access to the Pacific Ocean during the War of the Pacific (1879-1883), for which it sued Chile in 2013 before the International Court in The Hague to negotiate a maritime outlet, but the court dismissed its request.
Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000) already ceded to Bolivia in 1992 a 5-kilometer strip called Bolivia Mar, in the southern port of Ilo, a decision that was deepened in 2010 by Alan García (2006-2011), who renewed , for a period of 99 years, a maritime free zone, without sovereignty, for the neighboring country.
This Friday, the president of Peru affirmed that “He is not daunted” that the Subcommittee on Constitutional Accusations of Congress has approved the report.
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(This decision) does not intimidate us, we are here for the country, because the citizen comes first.
“(This decision) does not intimidate us, we are here for the country, because before everything else there is the citizen,” emphasized the government official after learning of the Subcommission’s decision while participating in a meeting with representatives of the Lima district of San Juan. of Lurigancho in the Government Palace of Lima.
The president added that he hopes that Congress now “acts looking at the Peruvian people” when making the following decisions on the subject.
Castillo noted, however, that “transfers to the people” the notification about the measures that are taken against them and that it is “in these conjunctural moments where the population is a personal witness of what is being done”.
“Each one does their own thing and gives an answer according to the responsibility they have,” he concluded before leaving the meeting to fulfill an already agreed trip to the Amazon region of San Martin.
INTERNATIONAL WRITING
*With information from EFE and AFP
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