This is how they demonstrate in Peru to request the vacancy of Castillo 2:05
(CNN Spanish) --
In Peru, 50 of the 130 congressmen in Parliament presented a new vacancy motion against President Pedro Castillo.
During the little more than seven months that the president has been in power, this is the second motion, promoted by the opposition, that seeks to vacate the president.
The first request to declare the vacancy of the position of President of the Republic was given in November 2021, but it did not reach enough votes to continue its process in the Legislative.
The solution to the political crisis in Peru, according to Vizcarra 1:52
The new motion indicates as a cause for vacancy the “permanent moral incapacity” of the president and accuses Castillo of repeatedly lying, and that “he has not reflected, much less corrected his conduct;
Quite the contrary, he has insisted on defending his actions”.
For the time being, Castillo has not reacted to this vacancy motion.
CNN is trying to get the reaction of the president of Peru.
There is still a complex process ahead for Congress to remove Castillo.
The Peruvian constitution, in its article 113, contemplates that the presidency of the Republic is vacant due to permanent moral incapacity declared by Congress.
According to article 89 of the regulations of the Peruvian Congress, there are several stages that are part of the vacancy request procedure.
The first is to present the vacancy motion.
The second step is for the document to be admitted to debate.
If this happens, a date and time must be agreed for the debate and subsequent vote on the request for vacancy, a session in which the president or his lawyer exercises their right of defense.
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What are the grounds of the vacancy motion?
The text of the vacancy motion refers to twenty "objective facts that are public knowledge" to support the request that seeks to declare the vacancy of the presidency of Peru.
The first foundation of the document indicates the alleged "contradictions and lies of President Castillo in the tax investigations."
The motion details that "the President of the Republic would have incurred in the crimes of procedural fraud and generic falsehood" and adds that the president changed his version before the prosecution: "President Pedro Castillo has ignored his own statements about the meetings he held with Mrs. Karelim López Arredondo at the Government Palace.
Thus, in an interview with CNN, he publicly declared that he had received her at the Government Palace on October 18, 2021. However, in the answers given to the prosecutor, he totally denies the fact, saying that 'he cannot specify that there is such a meeting' " .
The National Prosecutor, Zoraida Avalos, opened two preliminary investigations against President Pedro Castillo in relation to these cases indicated by Congress.
The first one for the alleged crimes of aggravated influence peddling and collusion and the second for the alleged crimes of influence peddling and illegal sponsorship.
Although, due to the immunity that the Constitution grants him, the beginning of the investigative acts was suspended until Castillo completes his mandate, the facts, linked to alleged irregularities in public tenders and military promotions, are investigated by the anti-corruption prosecutor's office.
In these investigations, the businesswoman Karelim López has been included as an investigator and President Castillo as a witness.
In the interview that the Peruvian president gave to CNN on January 24, he denied having any responsibility in these cases, assuring that he is not "responsible for everything that has just been said, they are speculations."
The appointment of people "more than questionable for various ministries" is another of the aspects that support the vacancy motion: "The appointment of people who are being investigated or prosecuted for execrable crimes such as terrorism, crimes against the public administration is not constitutionally acceptable. , violence against women, among others”.
The document also points to the "existence of a parallel cabinet or shadow cabinet" and points to it as "a clear constitutional violation" and supports it in the complaints made by three former ministers and by the former secretary general of the Government Palace.
The president has also publicly denied the existence of this parallel cabinet.
Should Pedro Castillo resign?
This is what Peruvians say 1:36
Among the 20 arguments that support the presidential vacancy motion, the "intention to call a popular consultation to give Bolivia access to the sea" is also cited.
President Pedro Castillo's statements occurred during an interview given to CNN on January 24.
Days later, in statements to the newspaper La Noticia, the president returned to refer to the issue and said: "I expressed myself wrong, I apologize to the Peruvian people", despite this the then foreign minister, Oscar Maurtua, was summoned to Congress where he pointed out that the " territorial cession that is constitutionally and politically impossible”.
Another of the arguments to which the motion for vacancy refers is the fact that "Karelim López Arredondo, in his capacity as an effective collaborator applicant, on February 18 last, has revealed to the authorities of the Public Ministry that the president of The Republic would be the leader of a criminal organization destined to benefit illegally through contradictions and bids for targeted works.”
As confirmed by CNN days ago, with a source from the Public Ministry of Peru, the information provided by López is part of a new process in the Special Prosecutor's Office for Money Laundering Crimes, which is kept in reserve and his statements involve President Pedro Castillo in alleged acts of corruption.
After López's statements before the Prosecutor's Office were known, Pedro Castillo, in a message to the nation, said that "if these facts are the subject of a fiscal investigation, how is it possible that they are publicly debated in the media?"
The president added that "this shows that the Prosecutor's Office would be part of a plot to destabilize the government."
Castillo also said that "a minority sector" seeks to vacate it.
The vacancy motion also points out the "silence of President Castillo before the prosecutors found $20,000 in the bathroom of Pacheco's office in the Palace, for which the former secretary is being investigated for the crimes of influence peddling and illicit enrichment."
In November 2020, the then President of Peru, Martín Vizcarra, had to leave office when Parliament declared the Presidency vacant.
peter castle
