Castillo assures he will exercise his right to defense against “outrages” of the Peruvian Congress

The president of Peru, Pedro Castillo, announced on Tuesday that he would exercise his right to defense before the “outrages” of the Congress, which has decided to debate and vote today, Wednesday, a motion of vacancy against him for alleged “permanent moral incapacity”.

“On Wednesday in Parliament, we will exercise the right to a defense that the Constitution grants us because I am respectful of the processes and not of the outrages of which I am a victim,” said Castillo in a short televised message.

However, the President did not clarify if he would attend personally to present his defense before the Plenary for a period of 60 minutes or if he would send a lawyer to represent him.

He criticized that this new impeachment motion, the third one filed against him in 16 months of government, is based “on third parties’ statements” that seek to “reduce their sentences” when investigated for alleged corruption.

“I will face the third motion of vacancy based on sayings of third parties, who, to lower their penalties for the alleged acts committed, abusing my trust, try to involve me without evidence. Tonight I ratify that I have never stolen a single sol to my country”, he stressed.

It is important to mention that the motion promoted by independent legislator Edward Malaga argues that “it is unacceptable” for a president to hold office “amid strong indications of corruption, serious indignity, or moral and ethical questions”.

“I stand before you, dear compatriots, to whom I owe myself, to ratify once again that I am not corrupt, nor would I ever stain the good name of my honest and exemplary parents,” Castillo insisted.

He questioned that this new motion shows that a certain sector of the Parliament has had “as the only item on their agenda” to remove him from office because they do not accept the results of an election that Peruvians “defined with their votes at the ballot box”.

He affirmed that, despite the actions against him, he would continue “working tirelessly” to promote reactivation and economic growth, to take works and development that generate equality to the last corner of the country.

He took advantage of the moment to ask for “tranquility and calm” in the population, while he said he was convinced that the political actors would be responsible for their decisions not to generate more instability in Peru.

For the vacancy motion to be approved by the Plenary in Wednesday’s session and for the eventual removal of Castillo to become effective, it must reach at least 87 votes of the 130 legislators of the Congress.