The former president of Peru, Pedro Castillo, has accused a «coup sector», alluding to the Government, of trying to «silence» the citizen protests in their support with aid and economic funds to the press to the detriment of the Agrarian Reform and bonuses for the Police and the National Teachers.
According to the President in a handwritten letter published in his social networks, «the pro-coup, exploitative and starving sector» has allocated 1,800 million soles -more than 442 million Euros- to the press to «silence the massacre and the crisis» in the country.
In this sense, he has reaffirmed himself as the legitimate president of the country after having been elected by the «forgotten population of deep Peru», and has accused certain powers of the State of not having left «not even a minute» to reject such decision of the citizens.
At this point, he alluded to the controversial decisions of the Congress of the Republic of not allowing him to travel abroad, specifically he brought up the case of his frustrated trips to Colombia and Mexico on the occasion of the inauguration of Gustavo Petro as president and the summit of the Pacific Alliance, respectively.
THANKS TO REGIONAL LEADERS Finally, Castillo dedicated a few words of thanks to the President of Bolivia, Luis Arce; to his Argentine counterpart, Alberto Fernández; to the President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, and to the aforementioned Petro.
The former president conveyed his «greetings and gratitude» to these regional leaders, whom he defined as «brothers», and highlighted his «identification and solidarity» with the Peruvian people and its «legitimate government».
«I tell them that we will remain firm and we will not renounce or abandon the just cause and the popular will of the Peruvian people», concluded former President Castillo, who signs the letter as «Constitutional President of Peru».
The governments of Mexico, Colombia, Bolivia and Argentina published this week a communiqué expressing their concern for Castillo’s removal and detention, calling on the Andean country’s institutions to respect «the will of the people at the ballot box».
Following this, the Peruvian Foreign Ministry summoned on Wednesday the ambassadors of Mexico, Bolivia and Argentina and the Chargé d’Affaires of Colombia, to remind them that the measures adopted by Castillo last week, and which led to his arrest, constitute a «coup d’état».
Last Wednesday, the former President announced the dissolution of Parliament and decreed a Government of exception. That decision did not obtain support and finally the Congress of the Republic dismissed him and the Public Prosecutor’s Office arrested him on charges of rebellion.
