The newspaper El Comercio calls for the resignation of President Pedro Castillo

The crisis of the Castillo government after an interview with CNN 2:08

(CNN Spanish) --

The newspaper El Comercio, one of the most important in Peru, called for the resignation of President Pedro Castillo in a harsh editorial with a headline published across the entire page in its print edition this Sunday.

In the letter, the newspaper, founded in 1839, poses a series of questions about what happened in the 100 days of Castillo's mandate and ends by asking the president to "honestly evaluate taking a step aside."

The editorial is published in the midst of the deep crisis that the Castillo government is going through, and after learning that the Peruvian president will appoint a new cabinet, the fourth in six months, after the refusal of the country's Congress to accept the vote request confidence of the president of the Council of Ministers, Héctor Valer, who is at the center of a controversy after allegations of alleged family violence came to light.

Pedro Castillo, President of Peru.

Credit: Leonardo Fernandez/Getty Images

This week, Valer denied having attacked his now deceased wife or her daughter, although he acknowledged the existence of a judicial file for family violence that began with a police complaint, a case whose existence he said he had learned of only a day and a half before.

This Saturday, the official announced that he had placed his position at the disposal of the president.

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Castillo has not commented on the matter, but last week, in response to criticism of his administration, which began in July 2021, he said: "I am learning every day" and added: "In this crucial hour, the country demands its authorities and its representatives, a responsible behavior, that they dedicate their time to the solution of their most urgent demands”.

Peru has experienced political instability in the last five years with four presidents and a dissolved Congress.

Credit: LUIS ROBAYO/AFP via Getty Images

This is not the first time that an editorial in El Comercio, which belongs to a conglomerate that owns several media outlets in the country, calls for the resignation of a president.

On November 15, 2020, they were also in favor of the resignation of the then interim president Manuel Merino, who had been appointed for 5 days after the removal of Martin Vizcarra as a result of a political trial by Congress.

Merino presented his resignation at noon on that same November 15.

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