The government of President Pedro Castillo in Peru, in constant crisis since he took office, witnessed the departure of yet another minister this Monday (8). The defense minister, Walter Ayala, submitted his resignation after information was made public that he had sought promotions for military personnel close to the head of state.
Castillo has not yet confirmed whether to accept the resignation. If he does, former judge Ayala will become the tenth minister changed in just over three months into the government – he took office in July. A week ago, Luis Barranzuela (Interior) left the government after holding a party amid the ban on such events in the country.
The fact took place two days before, on Thursday (4), Congress finally approved the second configuration of the leftist president’s ministry.
The new chapter of the crisis in the government began after the president dismissed the commanders of the Army, General José Vizcarra, and of the Air Force, Jorge Chaparro. The two later said they were pressured to irregularly promote some figures in the armed forces. According to what they say, the attempts came from Minister Ayala and Bruno Pacheco, Castillo’s secretary.
“I replied that [não faria isso] in no way, that he would respect the meritocracy and the procedures established in the law,” Chaparro told Peruvian newspaper El Comercio. After the statements, opposition lawmakers announced that they would try to remove the minister from office. Hours later, he presented his resignation.
“I make my position available, thanking my country and fulfilling my duty to the motherland,” Ayala wrote in a Twitter post. “Do not use pretexts against democracy.”
The Peruvian Congress called the two to testify at the Defense and Internal Order Commission, which is expected to consider the request for an investigation into possible pressure exerted by Castillo on the Armed Forces. Generals Ciro Bocanegra Loayza and Carlos Sánchez Cahuancama were favored, according to Vizcarra and Chaparro.
Parliamentarian José Williams Zapata, from Avança País, who chairs the commission, said that even Ayala’s departure –if Castillo’s resignation is accepted– does not put an end to the crisis.
The congressman said the allegations reveal a “great error” by political authorities. “We’ve already seen that involving the armed forces in politics is the worst thing that can be done,” he said. “The Armed Forces do not belong to the president, they do not belong to the government, but rather to the nation, to the people, and they must obey the Constitution.”
Earlier this Tuesday afternoon, the local press reported that the deputy and third vice president of Parliament, Patricia Chirinos, had filed a constitutional complaint against Ayala. The accusations will be evaluated by the congressmen and, if they are upheld, they could lead to criminal actions against the former judge.
The newly appointed Peruvian Prime Minister, Mirtha Vázquez, called the allegations serious, but stressed that the government “respects the Armed Forces, which are a strategic and very important actor for the protection of the State’s sovereignty.” Also commenting on the minister’s resignation request, she said that the government will announce measures in the coming hours.
In the early afternoon, Castillo met with the heads of the Armed Forces: Alberto Alcalá, from the Navy, Walter Horacio Córdova Alemán, from the Army, and Alfonso Javier Artadi Saletti, from the Air Force. On a social network, the Joint Command of the Forces posted a video in which, although without mentioning the accusations, it says that “one of the most important factors of the military is respect”.
A month ago, in search of governability, Castillo changed the president of the Council of Ministers, a figure who in Peru corresponds to the post of prime minister, and part of his ministerial cabinet. The new names proposed by the president were the reason for internal divergences in the governing party, Perú Libre, and were approved last Thursday (4) by the Legislative.
The leftist candidate defeated, by a small margin, the rightist Keiko Fujimori, daughter of dictator Alberto Fujimori —who led the country from 1990 to 2000 and, in delicate health, is serving a sentence for corruption and crimes against humanity.
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