Peru: Promotion scandal in the Armed Forces causes a new crisis in Pedro Castillo’s government

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – A new crisis has arisen in the government of the Peruvian President, Pedro Castillo, after a former commander of the Peruvian Army, José Vizcarra Álvarez, denounced that the presidential secretary, Bruno Pacheco Castillo, and the Minister of Defense, Walter Ayala, asked him for the irregular promotion of two colonels who would be related to the government.

His refusal to make these changes, considering that it was inappropriate for meritocratic reasons, would have cost him his retirement, even though he had only been in the post for three months.

“I can only think that (my retirement) is due to a recently presented reason, which is the promotion process and the invitations to retire, which are part of the activities carried out during this part of the year. (…) I did receive some requests, which were made known to me before the process through Secretary Bruno Pacheco and the Minister of Defense, and messages through the Minister of Defense’s aide-de-camp. Several people were recommended and in different degrees”, declared José Vizcarra this Monday morning to RPP, a local radio station.

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The former commander said that between October 11 and 13, he took the promotion records to the Ministry of Defense: “The Minister (Ayala) phoned the Palace (of Government) and told me that those recommended had not been promoted and that the Secretary (Pacheco) was uncomfortable”.

He added that he explained to the secretary Bruno Pacheco that it was not possible to promote the recommended ones and that he answered that “everything can be done if you want to”.

Given this, José Vizcarra requested to speak with President Pedro Castillo, with whom he could meet on Friday, October 15 at 7 p.m. In the meeting, the former commander explained why it was not possible to promote those recommended to the head of State. Trying to do so would generate a “negative impact on the institution”.

Finally, Vizcarra Alvarez assured President Pedro Castillo understood his reasons and told him that he supported him. Still, a few days later, he would find out, through the newspaper El Peruano, where official resolutions are published, that he had been relieved of his post and retired, as well as the now-former commander general of the Air Force, Jorge Chaparro Pinto.

Chaparro Pinto was also removed from office a few months after being appointed, in his farewell speech, he said that the promotion process in his institution was not due to external pressures, but to the regular process governed by meritocracy, but that there were members of this institution who sought to favor themselves through the support of third parties.

“The most important processes in recent months were the promotions, a process that was given mainly in compliance with the rules, meritocracy, and procedures and did not allow the interference of external agents to the institution pending the signing of renewal resolutions whose process concluded last October 31 and on which we timely submitted our proposal”, said Chaparro.

THOSE RECOMMENDED

Those recommended by the government for promotion were EP colonels Carlos Ramiro Sánchez Cahuancama and Ciro Bocanegra Loayza, a native of Tacabamba, the same district where President Pedro Castillo was born.

Both ‘recommended’ officers visited days before and in the middle of the promotion process the secretary of the presidential office and the congressman of the governing party Elías Varas Méndez, according to the records of visits of the State institutions.

On the other hand, this Monday, the Minister of Defense, Walter Ayala, presided over the recognition ceremony of Major General Walter Horacio Córdova Alemán as the new General Commander of the Peruvian Army (EP).

DEFENSE QUESTIONED

Given the scandal, reactions from the opposition in the Peruvian Congress were immediate. Jorge Montoya, member of parliament of the right-wing group Renovación Popular, stated that, together with other members of Congress, they would push for the interpellation of the Minister of Defense for allegedly pressuring irregular promotions in the Army. Subsequently, he intends to remove the Minister of Defense from office through a censure process, a prerogative that this power of the State has in Peru.

On the other hand, the National Defense Committee of the Congress summoned for this Tuesday former General Commanders Jose Vizcarra and Jorge Chaparro of the Army and the Air Force to expose the facts that caused the termination of their appointments.

EVALUATES RESIGNATION

In declarations to the press, upon leaving the Government Palace after a meeting of the Council of Ministers, Minister Walter Ayala said that he is evaluating his resignation because he felt frustrated by the continuous attacks. He denied that there had been any interference to ask for promotions and instead said that they were dissatisfied with the work of the former commander José Vizcarra and that is why the decision was made to retire him.