Peru’s Marxist party is “insurmountable barrier” to prevent Castillo’s impeachment

The Marxist party that brought Peruvian President Pedro Castillo to power is an “insurmountable barrier” to preventing his impeachment in the opposition-dominated Congress, even though the president has abandoned his campaign promises, said the group’s leader, Vladimir Cerrón.

Castillo, who has survived two failed impeachment attempts in Congress, won last year’s elections by a narrow margin, scaring off investors with the Peru Libre party’s radical plans, such as nationalizing key industries and rewriting the constitution.

But once in government, Castillo kept the economy in the hands of moderate officials and said he would not change market-friendly rules, angering Cerron, a surgeon who studied and trained politically in Cuba, to the point of demanding the president’s resignation from the party.

“What is missing for (Castillo’s) vacancy are few votes that Peru Libre could have placed at any time; that is not our intention,” Cerron said in an interview on Tuesday with Reuters at his party’s headquarters.

Some opposition lawmakers in Congress have recently said they are preparing a motion to attempt a third impeachment trial against Castillo, even though they have acknowledged that they do not currently have enough votes.

Others have said that instead of an impeachment trial, Castillo could be suspended from office for a violation of the constitution amid investigations against him for alleged corruption, something the president has rejected.

“Peru Libre is an insurmountable barrier so far” against such intentions of the opposition, Cerrón said.

The Marxist party brought 37 legislators to Congress, but after several resignations, the bloc has been reduced to only 16 of the 130 seats in Peru’s unicameral Parliament.

Expelling Castillo requires 87 votes, and the opposition gathered 76 and 55 votes in the two previous impeachment trials.

“Our desire is for him to make it to 2026, even though I do not share Castillo’s political attitudes,” Cerrón said.

Cerron’s comments could give Castillo some breathing space as criticism of his administration grows amid an unprecedented rotation of ministers and officials and marches and counter-marches around political decisions.

“I receive intermediaries from right-wing parties trying to persuade us to vote for this (impeachment),” he said. “Obviously, there is an offer in between, which we will never accept,” he added.

Peru, the world’s second-largest copper producer, lives in constant political uncertainty and has had as many as five presidents in power in the last five years, including Castillo.

CONSTITUTION AND ELECTIONS

Cerrón said that although drafting a new constitution is a key objective for his party, Perú Libre will not seek to push for a constituent assembly for that purpose because there is no legal way to achieve it without persuading the majority in the fragmented Congress.

“The doors have been closed not only to Peru Libre but also to other organizations joining in this task,” he said.

Although analysts consider it unlikely to rewrite the Constitution, Cerron’s comments are the clearest so far, which recognize this scenario as very difficult.

The leader affirmed, however, that his party has not discarded the possibility of early elections, at a time when the Congress is debating this possibility via a referendum, as “another maneuver of the opposition” to overthrow Castillo.

If that happens, “the people have to fight so that in this advance of elections via referendum, the question of whether or not we are going to a Constituent Assembly, for a new Political Constitution, is also incorporated. Only in those terms would Peru Libre accept an advance of the elections”, he said.

Cerrón considered that it is pretty complicated to define Castillo politically and that the president, lacking a “vision of statesmanship”, is governing only to survive.

Cerrón was going to be his party’s presidential candidate, but a judicial sentence for a corruption case took him out of the race, and that is why he ran Castillo, a unionist who became known for leading a teachers’ strike in 2017.

“He is a president who lacks ideological formation of any of the currents he could defend. I would say a pragmatic man,” the leader pointed out.

Although Castillo has recovered some popularity points in recent months, according to polls, his government’s rejection level exceeds 60% amid investigations against him and for allegedly obstructing justice to protect his family and former officials under the scrutiny of prosecutors.

With information from Reuters

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