Peruvians protest in Lima in condemnation of the coup against President Pedro Castillo. Photo: El País.
Caracas, December 10, 2022 (OrinocoTribune.com)–Peru suffered a coup d’état against democratically elected President Pedro Castillo, and the hand of the United States is behind everything that happened there last Wednesday, December 7, commented Jesús Rodríguez Espinoza, Venezuelan journalist and editor of the Venezuelan news website Orinoco Tribune, in an exclusive message to Al Mayadeen, made on Thursday, December 8.
“There was a coup d’état against Pedro Castillo, and not how the media are saying that Pedro Castillo dissolving Congress was a coup,” Rodríguez said.
“Pedro Castillo is the president of Peru, and we should be very clear about this,” he continued. “This is not a change of presidents, which is very common in Peru—interim presidents—like what has happened in recent years in Peru. This is overthrowing a democratically elected president.”
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The journalist explained that Castillo’s decision to dissolve Congress did not constitute an unconstitutional act as alleged by the media. “It is a legal, constitutional measure, contemplated in Articles 133 and 134 of the Constitution of Peru, which establishes the conditions for which Congress may be dissolved, and it gives the president the capacity to do it,” he pointed out.
“There is a debate about some of the conditions,” he added. “The rule establishes that [the Congress can be dissolved] if two ministers have been censured by Congress, but it does not define any time period for this… Some people refer to the censure, or intent of censure against Prime Minister Aníbal Torres and claim that it was the only one, but they do not talk about the other motions of censure that the Congress did make against Castillo’s ministers.”
Rodríguez also pointed out that the dissolution of Congress was not a sudden decision made by the Peruvian president, but it “was being debated for weeks, rather months, in the Peruvian public opinion… This should be clarified because it is being presented as if President Castillo just woke up yesterday and decided to dissolve the Congress.”
Rodríguez remarked that the appointment of Vice President Dina Boluarte as the de facto president is a measure adopted by the Peruvian Congress to disguise the coup d’état. “Naming Dina Boluarte as the de facto president is a halfway solution between Pedro Castillo and José William Zapata, the president of Congress, who is a right-wing military man accused of corruption and drug trafficking and what have you,” he opined. “So, I believe they chose Dina Boluarte to prevent greater tension or political instability in Peru… In fact, José William Zapata was the president of Peru for some minutes and then transferred power to Dina Boluarte. This was all that was behind the coup in Peru.”
He added that Boluarte being a woman feeds the identity propaganda and sells an image of equality, presenting the coup “as something nice through which the first woman president of Peru came to power.”
He also spoke about the protests in Peru after the coup of December 7, protests that are not being reported by the media. “There were protests in Lima, and there was a lot of violence; some protesters were injured by attacks from the police,” he said. “Yesterday, the protests were not massive, but more protests are expected in the coming days, especially in the interior of Peru, in support of Pedro Castillo.”
The journalist concluded by discussing Washington’s role in the coup. “The hand of the US is very evident in all that is happening in Peru, just like it is evident in all that is happening in Bolivia, with the census and all that violence that occurred in Santa Cruz a few weeks ago and which is still present,” he pointed out. The US hand is also evident in “the court sentence against Cristina Fernández de Kirchner so that she cannot run for public positions, to avoid her victory in the presidential elections in 2023.”
“We should take time and analyze all of this,” Rodríguez concluded.
Orinoco Tribune special by Saheli Chowdhury
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Saheli Chowdhury
Saheli Chowdhury is from West Bengal, India, studying physics for a profession, but with a passion for writing. She is interested in history and popular movements around the world, especially in the Global South. She is a contributor and works for Orinoco Tribune.
