Former Minister Durand: Castillo is a "desperate maneuver" to unlock the situation of "illegitimacy"

Durand points out that the deaths that Boluarte has "to his credit" should be enough to force his resignation

He doubts that anyone other than Castillo can capitalize on the discontent and desire for social change in Peru

MADRID, 17 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The former Minister for Women of Peru, Anahí Durand, has described the coup attempt by former President Pedro Castillo as "a hasty and desperate maneuver" for "unlocking a situation of illegitimacy and altering the balance of powers" imposed by a Congress that neither even acknowledged his electoral victory.

"Yes, it was an attempted coup that did not come to fruition," Durand told Europa Press, to later clarify that "it was rather a desperate manoeuvre, a hasty attempt by an absolutely surrounded president who possibly in two hours He was going to be dismissed by Parliament", he explains in relation to the motion of censure that was scheduled for that December 7.

That was the third time that Castillo was going to face a motion of no confidence in just a year and a half in office. "This figure of vacancy due to moral incapacity is being used indiscriminately, it can be presented at any time as long as you have the signature of 66 congressmen. Pedro Castillo is presented with a vacancy every three months, it is something that no system can stand" , has criticized.

"He did not take out a tank, it was not a coup along those lines (...) it is a desperate attempt to break this situation, to provide a way out of a situation in which you are no longer talking about legality as such," has delved.

"It is not a coup d'état in a legitimized democratic order, it is an attempt to unblock a situation of illegitimacy and alteration of the balance of powers, which is the basis of democracy," Durand emphasized.

In this sense, he has criticized the interested versions of some media and sectors of the Peruvian political far-right for equating this failed move by Castillo with episodes in the country's recent history, such as the coup d'état by Alberto Fujimori in April 1992.

"They have been permanently obstructing Pedro Castillo, whom they have not known since he was announced the winner of the elections. This coup bloc did not even give him the benefit of victory, it spoke of fraud and challenged indigenous votes. It was not only discursive, it He did a whole legal battle," he denounces.

Durand has blamed this umpteenth political crisis in Peru on that parliamentary "monster" heir to Fujimori's "tailor-made" Constitution of 1993, which until now has not been changed, beyond several modifications according to the majorities, which since then have been "conservative sectors of fujimorismo".

"We have absolutely handcuffed legality and an outdated Constitution. Already in 2020, with the pandemic, people were asking for a new Constitution on the grounds that more could not be done for the economy. It has been a series of crises that have been accumulating , where the constitutional legal issue is a kind of straitjacket for these citizen demands", he has assessed.

"In the 2021 campaign, 80 percent of the political parties agreed to change the Constitution and that was one of the main flags of Pedro Castillo, not only because of the institutional issue, but also because of the economic one," he said. .

Durand has highlighted that Castillo's government "was always very precarious", from the very beginning of his candidacy for Peru Libre, "a very regional, provincial and ideological party" that later "played a disastrous, sectarian role, without wanting to see the allies, practically expelling the president and always demanding ministries and shares of power", he lamented.

"This demonstrates the weakness of a government that, although it was elected with the vote of the most excluded, always had a programmatic base and a very weak correlation of forces, even on the left itself," said Durand, who has reproached that social-democratic and aspirational middle-class left to join "the narrative of the big media".

"In the end it is the people who are dying in the streets, asking for the freedom of Castillo, a new Constitution and for the closure of Congress", but "right now they do not have a legitimate interlocutor" who can sit down and talk with President Dina Boluarte "except maybe Castillo, but he's in jail."

Durand has also been very critical of Boluarte's management, which he blames for the dozens of deaths that have been recorded since a part of the population took to the streets in support of Castillo.

"All the deaths are from bullets from the Police and the Army because this lady, Dina Boluarte, decreed a state of national emergency, restricting and repressing certain rights, such as the right to protest. The people, obviously, have ignored and have came out more indignant", he stressed.

"There is a clear overflow and the demand now is the resignation of Dina Boluarte and not just close Congress and release Castillo (...) There are 21 deaths and everything on the front pages of the newspapers is Castillo's prison (... ) as the dead are outside of Lima, they are not being treated as they should," he denounced.

Durand has also questioned the recent support that the Chilean Executive has offered to Boluarte, contrary to what other neighbors with left-wing governments have done, and has asserted that President Gabriel Boric "is going to have to rethink the support for this lady who already has 21 deaths to his credit".

"This is a dictatorship. If you condemn the dictatorship in Nicaragua, you should condemn what is happening in Peru. I think that Boric perhaps was quick to think that the situation had normalized and also the influence of the North American Embassy, ​​which has quickly gone to visit Dina Baluarte, has made them think like that".

"It seems to me that it is an inadequate look," stressed Durand, who has highlighted that other countries, such as Colombia, Mexico, Argentina or Bolivia, have called attention to what is happening not only at a political level, but also in terms of Human Rights.

"I think it is also key that the international community does not align itself with this idea that the United States wants to impose that the transition and democratic life have returned to normal here. It would seem important to me that Boric also reflect on that line," he said. .

On the other hand, facing the early elections that could even be brought forward to 2023, Durand has considered that the Peruvian left currently does not have anyone with the necessary strength to mobilize the majority that yearns for social change. For her, only Castillo is capable of capitalizing on that feeling.

"I believe that at this time the one who is going to capitalize on all this is going to be whoever Pedro Castillo says, there is no other tower on the left and in the popular camp that can have that force" nor in "the same progressive left", he said Durand, pointing out how other figures of these currents such as Verónika Mendoza "have become blurred".

"It seems to me that at this point, when an early election for July, August, next year is beginning to be considered more seriously, the candidacy of the sectors of the left, of the popular camp, they are going to have to take into account this variable of Pedro Castillo, perhaps not him as a candidate, but someone he designates", he has assessed.