Pedro Castillo calls the current Peruvian government “genocidal” and “dictatorial”

The former president of Peru, Pedro Castillo (2021-2022), affirmed that he still considers himself head of state of this country; at the same time, he described as “genocidal” and “dictatorial” the current government of President Dina Boluarte.

“I consider that I am still president of Peru; as a Peruvian, I do not recognize this genocidal government as representative of Peru. I speak not only as president but also as a Peruvian; this dictatorial government does not represent us”, he declared in an interview with the Spanish media El Salto.

On December 7, the former president tried to close the Congress and take over the Judicial Power, the Public Prosecutor’s Office, and the Constitutional Court by establishing a “Government of Exception”.

Congress immediately dismissed him for this action, appealing to the constitutional cause of moral incapacity to exercise the presidency.

Castillo was arrested by the Police and investigated by the Prosecutor’s Office for the crime of rebellion and conspiracy; all State institutions qualified his action as an attempt to break the constitutional order or coup d’état.

Currently, the former president is under preventive detention in Lima.

After Castillo’s dismissal, Peru entered into a serious social and political crisis with numerous protests throughout the country, particularly in the southern Andean region.

Citizens demand the exit of members of Congress and President Dina Boluarte, who was once Castillo’s vice president and assumed power by constitutional succession.

The citizens demand the exit of Boluarte and Congress through the advance of general elections.

To date, 58 citizens have died in the demonstrations in confrontations with the forces of law and order, according to data from the Ombudsman’s Office.

In the interview with the Spanish media, Castillo affirms that the repression of citizen demonstrations by the current Government constitutes “State terrorism”.

“The excessive use of force… that is not what is happening anymore. It is a massacre. They are killing my compatriots. Brothers with whom I traveled through Peru, Arequipa, Cusco, and Ayacucho [southern Andean departments]. Yes, I believe that Peru is experiencing state terrorism because of this government,” said the former president.

Likewise, Castillo pointed out that his attempt to close the Congress and take over the main institutions of the State is a “complicated and complex to explain” matter and that he never wanted to “subvert the constitutional order.”

“I wanted to make the political class understand that popular power is the maximum expression of societies. I did not want to obey the social and economic power groups. I wanted to put the people above all else,” said the former president.

On the other hand, he indicated that his departure from power was a maneuver “organized mainly [by] the Peruvian right wing that serves the interests of the international right wing, the neoliberal and imperialist groups”.

Castillo denounced that the right-wing opposition intended to prevent him from coming to power since he entered the ballot to face Keiko Fujimori, daughter of the imprisoned former president Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000) and leader of the Popular Force party (conservative right).

With information from Sputnik