Timeline of Pedro Castillo's scandals and the reasons that led Congress to file the vacancy motion against him

In a few hours, the future of Pedro Castillo and, above all, Peru, is defined. At 3 in the afternoon, the presidential vacancy process began in the Congress of the Republic with the president's disclaimers and explanations of the charges against him, and then gave way for the parliamentarians to debate and vote on his tenure.

This is the second vacancy request that the Cajamarquino professor has faced since he came to power, 8 months ago. Since then, he has been accused of not being able to lead the country, of trafficking in influence and corruption. He was even denounced for treason and leading a criminal gang from the Government Palace.

Here are the scandals of the Castillo Terrones government in chronological order:

Julio del 2021

The then head of the Ministry of the Interior, Iber Maraví, was accused of participating years ago in terrorist attacks in the interior of the country and of maintaining links with Movadef. Despite constant questioning against him, the head of state kept him in office for three months.

Octubre del 2021

Pedro Castillo celebrated his daughter's birthday with a children's party in Palacio despite a ban on meetings. It was attended by dozens of children and children's entertainer Brenda Carvallo.

Octubre del 2021

Maraví's replacement in the Interior portfolio, Minister Luis Barranzuela canceled drug trafficking eradication operations in the Vraem. However, this did not result in his departure from the sector, but rather he resigned after organizing a party at his house and in the midst of the state of emergency resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.

November 2021

Former Army Commander José Vizcarra revealed pressure from former Government Palace Secretary Bruno Pacheco and former Defense Minister Walter Ayala to access irregular promotions. This was also denounced by Jorge Chaparro, from FAP. Both commanders were retired for refusing to make these changes.

November 2021

He was linked to the family of the former Minister of Education, Carlos Gallardo, from the filtering of the national test for teacher appointment. Minedu blamed INEI and suspended the public teachers' competition. The Congress of the Republic succeeded in censoring him a month later.

November 2021

Bruno Pacheco once again generated another political crisis. It was revealed that he pressured the head of Sunat, through WhatsApp messages, to benefit his friends with jobs and advantages for their companies. Days later, the Prosecutor's Office, as part of the investigations into influence-trafficking, found $20,000 in cash in the bathroom of Pacheco's office. These acts led to his resignation from office, which was accepted by Pedro Castillo several days later.

November 2021

A report by Cuarto Poder explained that Castillo Terrones was meeting clandestinely in a house in Breña. The images show that former ministers, public officials and businessmen arrived there, including Karelim Lopez, who won concessions for the companies he advised, would get involved with the president's family, and then accuse him of leading a criminal gang.

November 2021

El Comercio revealed that the Tarata III Consortium, made up of a company advised by Karelim López (one of the visitors to Breña), won a millionaire tender.

December 2021

Pedro Castillo faced his first presidential vacancy process. The benches of Fuerza Popular, Renovación Popular and Avanza País managed to reach 26 signatures to be able to present the motion, however, the request did not reach the votes to be debated in plenary, so it was rejected.

December 2021

Pedro Castillo received Karelim López and managers of Petroperú and Heaven Petroleum at the same time at the Palacio. The latter company then won a millionaire tender for the sale of biodiesel. This contract was annulled due to media pressure, it was again called into the competition, and in the end it was won again by the company Heaven Petroleum.

December 2021

President Pedro Castillo first underwent an interrogation by the Prosecutor's Office and confirmed chats he exchanged with former Comandante Vizcarra about the process of military promotions.

January 2022

The president gave his first interviews to the press since he took office. In one of them, for CNN en Español, the Mexican interviewer Fernando del Rincón put him in trouble. Castillo acknowledged that he was not ready to be president and that in these months he has been learning.

He also talked about the possibility of outputting Bolivia to the sea. This caused Parliament to accuse him of treason.

January 2022

The then Minister of the Interior, Avelino Guillén, resigned from office due to differences with senior officers of the National Police, which have caused a severe crisis within the portfolio he leads. In addition, in an interview, he complained about President Castillo's little interest in the changes that needed to be made to the NPP.

January 2022

Mirtha Vasquez presented her letter of resignation from the Presidency of the Council of Ministers. This caused Castillo to recompose, for the third time, his ministerial cabinet.

February 2022

The president took the oath of a cabinet with eleven changes in total. The new premier was the congressman of the Peru-Democrático bench, Hector Vale r, who was questioned for filing complaints of family violence against his wife and daughter and accusations of neighbors for being an aggressive person.

February 2022

Four days later, the president said he would recompose the cabinet of ministers in the face of media pressure. However, he did not mention the family violence scandals surrounding the premier. On the contrary, he blamed the Congress of the Republic for not speeding up the voting of confidence session.

February 2022

Pedro Castillo was sworn in to his fourth cabinet headed by former Minister of Justice, Aníbal Torres. This caused discomfort in the Congress of the Republic.

February 2022

Great controversy arose around the appointment of Hernán Condori as the new Minister of Health to replace Hernando Cevallos. Condori was accused of prescribing “bunchy water” to cure some diseases, in addition to stating that he can diagnose if a person has cancer in record time. The Medical College of Peru rejected this appointment, as well as several former Ministers of Health.

February 2022

The businesswoman Karelim López, in search of effective collaboration, revealed that the president is part of a mafia that operates in the Ministry of Transport and Communications directing tenders in the sector, which, despite constant changes in the Cabinet, has been in charge of Juan Silva since the rural school teacher assumed the presidency.

In addition, he announced the existence of “Los Niños”, a group of parliamentarians of Popular Action who 'obey everything Pedro Castillo says. ' The head of state denied all the accusations against him.

February 2022

The Popular Renewal bench announced that it will file a vacancy motion against President Pedro Castillo for permanent moral incapacity, after the testimony of aspiring effective collaborator Karelim López was disseminated.

February 2022

Castillo accepted the resignation of the questioned Minister of Transport and Communications, Juan Silva, just as Congress debated his censorship after López's statements about the existence of an alleged mafia operating within MTC became known.

March of 2022

Nicolás Bustamante replaced Silva as the new Minister of Transport and Communications. He already belonged to MTC since the end of November 2021 as he served as Secretary General of the Ministry of Transport and Communications. It is presumed that his appointment would be a matter of trust.

March of 2022

Hugo Chávez Arévalo submitted his irrevocable resignation from the position of General Manager and as a member of the Petroleum Board of Peru Petroperú S.A., a position he had held since October 8, 2021.

Chavez Arévalo's management was questioned since it became known that he had visited the Government Palace to meet with the president, Pedro Castillo, and that the record of visits showed that businessman Samir Abudaye, who later won a tender with Petroperu, and lobbyist Karelim López. the same time.

March of 2022

The plenary of the Parliament approved the admission of the motion to request vacancy against the President of the Republic, Pedro Castillo. 76 congressmen voted in favor, 41 against, one abstention.

March of 2022

Felix Inocente Chero Medin was sworn in as head of the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights (Minjusdh) to replace Yldefonso Ángel Narro. It should be noted that this is the 50th minister of Castillo's management since he took office eight months ago.

March of 2022

Pedro Castillo's political niece, Fany Yakeli Oblitas Paredes, would have won two service orders (OS) in February 2022, resulting in an income of S/ 18,000 for services such as updating data and collating them at the Ministry of Transport and Communications (MTC).

March of 2022

The businessman Zamir Villaverde was preliminarily detained for 15 days at his home in La Molina, at the request of the Public Prosecutor's Office investigating the irregular award of the Puente Tarata III work and the unofficial meetings of President Pedro Castillo at the Sarratea passage house in Breña. Case in which Karelim López, Bruno Pacheco, are also involved with the nephews of the head of state.

THE 20 REASONS FOR THE OPPOSITION TO VACAR A CASTILLO

These are the arguments used by the opposition to achieve the presidential vacancy, however, it needs 87 votes to achieve it, a goal that seems distant according to what was advanced by the congressmen on the eve.

1. President Castillo's Contradictions and Lies in Tax Investigations.

The motion states that “last Sunday, February 20, 2022, in two journalistic programs, it was announced that the President of the Republic, Pedro Castillo Terrones, had committed the crimes of procedural fraud and generic falsehood, both defined in articles 416 and 438 of the Criminal Code, respectively.”

In this regard, Pedro Castillo, as a witness, “would have provided false information to the Office of the Prosecutor of the Nation in the investigations into the case of irregular promotions in the Armed Forces and the case of Provías Decentralizado in the award of the Puente Tarata work to the company linked to Karelim López Arredondo”.

2. Appointments of Ministers of State.

“Since President Pedro Castillo took office on July 28, 2021, he has appointed more than questionable people to various ministries. Although the Political Constitution of the State establishes some minimum requirements for ministers, it cannot be ignored that there are principles and values that the Constitution protects, such as respect for fundamental rights, national defense, the principle of good administration and the fight against corruption”.

The opposition considers that these designations “are evidence of permanent moral incapacity, since they constantly violate constitutional principles”. As questioned ministers mention Guido Bellido (investigated for advocacy of terrorism), Hector Béjar (past as guerrilla), Iber Maraví (complaint of terrorism), Héctor Valer (complaint of family violence), Juan Silva (complaint of family violence), Hernán Condori (allegations of improper collection and incompatible negotiation), among others others.

3. Existence of a parallel cabinet or “shadow cabinet”

“That a clear constitutional infringement can be seen in the increasingly evident presence of a parallel cabinet - or “shadow cabinet” -, as reported by resignations former officials Mirtha Vásquez Chuquilín, former President of the Council of Ministers, Carlos Jaico, former Secretary General of Palacio, Pedro Francke, former Minister of Economy, and Avelino Guillén Jáuregui, former Minister of the Interior”.

4. Questioned businessmen met with Castillo.

The document reads that: “Despite the fact that former presidential secretary Bruno Pacheco assured, before the Congressional Supervision Commission on January 12, that he did not have financial resources, he held an expensive private party for his daughter valued at S/. 99,500.00 (NINETY-NINE THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED SOLES)”

“The celebration for about 50 guests was held in a house in Cieneguilla with the cumbia orchestra, Group 5. According to a report by Cuarto Poder, on November 6, 2021, the arrival of several vehicles was recorded at a building located in Cieneguilla, among them belonging to MAZAVIG S.A.C., a company owned by Samir Villaverde García, who recorded four visits to the Government Palace and whose vehicles he lends to Friar Vasquez Castillo, nephew by President Pedro Castillo Terrones”.

“In addition, the arrival of a van that is owned by the Threejots company, owned by Karelim López Arredondo and her husband, Jonny Milla Cornejo, was also captured. There was also the arrival of an official vehicle that was assigned to the general management of Petroperú, currently occupied by Hugo Chavez Arevalo, who is being investigated for a contract to Heaven Petroleum Operators S.A, owned by Samir Abudayeh.”

“Also, lobbyist Karelim Lopez had rented the same house last July for a family event.”

5. Express their intention to convene a popular consultation on the “outing to sea” to Bolivia.

6. President Pedro Castillo involved in the solicitation of bribes for police promotions.

7. President Castillo held secret meetings with state suppliers in a house in Breña, and refuses to give the list of assistants.

8. Silence of the president on the discovery of 20 thousand dollars in the bathroom of Pacheco's office in the Government Palace.

9. The Tarata III consortium, made up of a company advised by Karelim López (one of the visitors to Breña), won a millionaire tender. Crime in investigation: trading in influence.

10. Eric Huaymana, chauffeur of President Pedro Castillo, deposited S/20,000 to Bruno Pacheco. Crime under investigation: illicit enrichment.

11. Witness told the Prosecutor's Office that the daughter of the then Minister of Education, Carlos Gallardo, had leaked evidence from teachers to teachers. After this and other questions, Gallardo was censored by Congress.

12. Panorama revealed that Pedro Castillo received Karelim López and managers of Petroperú and Heaven Petroleum at the same time in Palacio. The latter company then won a millionaire tender for the sale of biodiesel. Crimes: collusion and incompatible negotiation.

13. Leaders of Free Peru paid S/40,000 to hacker for deleting information. Crime under investigation: money laundering.

14. Petroperu officials complained to the Public Prosecutor's Office that the investigated manager Hugo Chávez ordered the removal of evidence of the irregular tender. The entity had to cancel the contract.

15. President Pedro Castillo confirmed to the Prosecutor's Office that he exchanged with former commander Vizcarra about the process of military promotions.

16. Aspiring effective collaborator organized a party for the daughter of Pedro Castillo, who claims to know nothing about the fact.

17. President Pedro Castillo illegally appoints Daniel Salaverry as president of Perupetro, without fulfilling the profile.

18. He acknowledges that he is not ready to be president of the country.

19. Interference in the appointment of ministers.

20. The revelations of Karelim López Arredondo as an aspiring effective collaborator.

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