Peru's leftist President Pedro Castillo announced on Thursday that he will personally defend himself on Monday against the opposition-led parliament which has initiated impeachment proceedings against him, the second since his election eight years ago. month.
During a meeting with residents in the Andean region of Puno (south), one of his electoral strongholds, Pedro Castillo indicated that he will face the parliamentarians
"to challenge what they want the people to believe Peruvian".
Read alsoTrade unionist Pedro Castillo elected president in Peru
Pedro Castillo could send a lawyer to represent him during the Plenary Assembly which will debate from 3:00 p.m. local time (8:00 p.m. GMT) the arguments
of “moral incapacity”
invoked to launch the dismissal procedure.
At least 87 votes, out of 130 parliamentarians, are necessary to obtain the dismissal.
The presidential party Peru Libre has assured that its 37 representatives in the unicameral Parliament will reject the procedure as a whole.
If however Pedro Castillo were dismissed, he would then be replaced by his vice-president Dina Boluarte.
The opposition accuses President Castillo of having intervened in an alleged corruption affair operated by his entourage and of having committed
“treason”
by declaring himself open to a referendum on an outlet to the Pacific Ocean for the landlocked Bolivian neighbor .
In December, Parliament rejected a first request for dismissal for
"moral incapacity"
, this argument which has already brought down three presidents in Peru: Alberto Fujimori in 2000, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski in 2018 and Martin Vizcarra in 2020.
