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(CNN Spanish) -
Héctor Béjar resigned this Tuesday as Peru's foreign minister, less than three weeks after being appointed to the post by the new president, Pedro Castillo.
Although the statement from the Presidency of the Republic that officially confirmed the news did not explain the reasons for his departure, his appointment had been harshly criticized by opposition parties to the government.
Criticism for statements by Héctor Béjar on terrorism
But the harshest criticisms came this Monday after statements broadcast on Sunday through the Panorama program of the Panamericana TV channel. In these statements, Béjar is heard saying in a video from February this year, before being appointed Chancellor, that the Peruvian Navy was for him responsible for the beginning of terrorism in the country. "Terrorism in Peru was started by the Navy, and that can be demonstrated historically and they have been trained for that by the CIA," he says.
Following the statements, the Peruvian Navy issued a statement in which it stated that Béjar's version "lacks absolutely truth" and constitutes "an affront against the men and women who fought and continue to fight against terrorist crime, against widows, orphans and bereaved victims of this heinous action;
as well as against all the men and women that make up our bicentennial institution ”.
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The institution ends the statement saying that it "deplores statements of this nature that seek to distort the history of national pacification."
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Béjar's statements not only received great exposure in the media and harsh criticism on social networks, but also provoked a protest at the door of the Foreign Ministry on Tuesday.
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Transparency Peru said that it was "unacceptable to question this historical truth," referring to the emergence of terrorism in Peru.
The justification of the Chancellery
The former foreign minister did not respond personally, but the Foreign Ministry did through an official statement, in which he affirmed that Béjar's statements occurred "when he did not hold any public office." They assured that his opinions "have been manipulated, edited, cut and taken out of context with the purpose of discrediting him and obtaining the censure of the Minister of Foreign Affairs." And they add that it is a systematic campaign that aims to "confuse public opinion and present the Chancellor offending the Armed Forces and the Navy of Peru, a fact that the minister categorically rejects."
The Congress of the Republic had already proposed to question Béjar due to the proposal that Vladimir Cerrón, national secretary of the ruling party, made in a tweet when proposing the withdrawal of Peru from the Lima Group.
No government official has confirmed that initiative so far.
Other statements made by Héctor Béjar before he took office as Minister of Foreign Affairs that circulated through networks also motivated the call of Congress: “I am convinced, I cannot prove it, of two things.
One, that Sendero has been largely the work of the CIA and the intelligence services;
and two, a large part of the division's operations of the left has something to do with enemy intelligence services ”.