Peruvian President Pedro Castillo announced Wednesday that he had asked the Organization of American States (OAS) to activate and apply the Inter-American Democratic Charter to find a way out of the political crisis in his country.
“My government has asked the OAS to activate and apply the Inter-American Democratic Charter to initiate a process of consultation with all political forces, state powers, and social forces to (…) find a way to prevent a serious change in the democratic order in Peru,” the president said in a message to the nation.
In his televised address, the head of state, accompanied by the train of ministers, assured that his request to the multilateral organization is also aimed at achieving “a basic consensus to fight corruption” in the Andean country drastically.
Castillo said this after denouncing that a series of situations “created” by the legislature, the prosecutor’s office, and other public institutions were part of a “new form of coup d’état” against him in recent months.
The president, the subject of at least six investigations, first challenged the constitutional complaint filed against him before Congress by Attorney General Patricia Benavides, calling it “unconstitutional, illegal, unfounded and without objective evidence.”
However, the Attorney General’s Office said Wednesday that it has more than 190 pieces of evidence to support the thesis that Castillo is the alleged leader of a criminal organization in his government.
On the other hand, the head of state warned that amid the investigation, “a new form of psychological torture has been used, with preliminary arrests and preventive detentions” to find accusations against him.
He also criticized that “certain media outlets and journalists who have turned into real political agents” wanted to “abandon their work and their duty to report impartially.
“In this belief, the political crisis must be resolved through dialogue, renunciation of coup plotters, respect for democracy, and promotion of a national agreement for the stability of democracy and the rule of law,” he stressed.
Castillo stressed that despite the strong opposition to his government, he would finish his term and hand over power to Peru’s next president on July 28, 2026, according to the country’s political constitution.
“I am not corrupt, and I repeat this to the end of my days; on the contrary, my commitment is to fight to put an end to this scourge that is causing so much damage to the country,” he stressed.
Castillo’s statement came shortly after the publication in the national press of a communiqué in which his government asked the OAS Secretary General, Luis Almagro, to take “urgent measures” to open a dialogue between the different sectors to resolve the political crisis in the country.
Due to the request, the OAS scheduled an extraordinary meeting for Thursday to analyze the situation.