Peru’s Congress hits President Castillo again with a motion of censure of a minister

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Peruvian Minister of Education, Carlos Gallardo, will be submitted this Tuesday by the entire Congress to a motion of censure which, if it passes the 66 votes required, would leave him out of the Government, a very realistic option, according to the latest calculations made by analysts and media, which reveals the deepening of the clash of powers between the Legislative and the Executive of Pedro Castillo.

The motion of censure, filed last Friday, questions Gallardo’s suitability for the position, the appointments in his sector, and alleged leaks of the exam questions for teacher appointments in 2021, among other things.

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According to a count of the Peruvian newspaper El Comercio, the opposition would have enough votes to get the exit of a new minister of Castillo, who is also part of the so-called “teaching wing” of the Executive, a sector considered to be trusted by the president.

The spokesman of Acción Popular, Elvis Vergara, said that until last week they were not going to support the motion, but the investigation initiated against Lucinda Vásquez, legislator of the ruling Perú Libre, and Ynés Gallardo Calixto, daughter of the minister, changed the panorama.

Both women are accused of allegedly having leaked the teaching test, which took place nationwide on November 13th.

For the minister, the accusation is a “hoax”. “I put my hands in the fire for my daughter, and I also put my hands in the fire for Congresswoman Lucinda Vásquez,” he said, quoted by the Peruvian newspaper La República.

“I don’t see any reason to resign; I don’t see any reason, I don’t think it is fair to assume a guilt that I don’t have,” he added.

Vergara said that the pro-Fujimori Acción Popular bench would meet in the next few hours to define its position and, although he preferred not to make calculations, he said: “The bench will vote as a block, regardless of the decision taken”.

In the case of the opposition Alianza para el Progreso (APP), spokesman Eduardo Salhuana ratified that the six legislators of his party who signed the motion, among them himself, are in favor of the censure.

As for the rest of the 15 members of the parliamentary group, he added that “the majority are also in favor” of censuring the minister.

He said that while APP had “serious observations” on Gallardo’s management, the latest revelations about the leaking of the teaching test generated a more significant current in favor of censure. In his opinion, the minister does not have serious, professional, or competent management, but rather ideologized and lacking in suitability.

“We do not see initiative, proactivity; we see a minister more concerned about his union, an eagerness for political copying, he is not thinking about the sector. The issue of the test is the complete expression of this policy. We believe it has been deliberate because the minister and his group have always been against the evaluation of teachers,” he said.

He also added about Castillo’s Government that “in a teacher’s administration, the sector that has the least ideas of what to do, is the Ministry of Education itself, which is paradoxical and worrying”.

Likewise, the members of Somos Perú, also in opposition, decided to vote in favor of the censure.

Likewise, Renovación Popular, which promoted the censure motion, Fuerza Popular and Avanza País, are inclined to vote in favor, as a block.

In the case of the ruling party Perú Libre, spokeswoman Silvana Robles anticipated that the intention is to vote unanimously against it. However, she did not rule out disparate positions since the bench has voted divided in the last weeks: “Of course, there will always be a vote different from that of the majority. It is inevitable. The vote of conscience is appealed to”.

When the admission for debate of the motion of interpellation against Gallardo was discussed, the majority of Perú Libre voted against it. But three legislators voted in favor while one abstained.